Working For The Man
by obsidians
Summary: Genesis is a Commander in the SOLDIER program and a known insufferable ass playboy with a volatile temper and Aerith is a devoutly religious girl hired as his personal assistant, yet both start to change as they are influenced by the other. Romance at the end.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own FF7 or its characters and make no profit writing this story.

Aerith stood off to the side of the stage in her prim little dark suit, her long hair was woven into its normally tight braid, allowing none of the tendrils she normally wore outside of work to escape. Her only make up a ting of pink lip gloss just a couple shades darker then her own generous pink lips. She had an aura of innocence about her that made her appear years younger than her actual age of twenty two. She was one of those frail seeming women who brought out the protective side of all who encountered her, who could defend herself just fine, the way she moved bespoke of years of martial arts training under her black belt.

Right now she clutched her tablet to her in a way that would have shattered it if she had been stronger, her full lips were drawn into a line of disapproval as her "charge or boss (depending on who you asked)" strutted around the stage, okay more like showboated, easily disarming the half trained grunts with his oversized red mako glowing sword. "I'm am here to defend you, my sword is yours" he said to his audience and thrust it phallically into the air with a roar of approval from them. Aerith sourly mouthed along with his final statement, he always said this to appear humble (because Aerith had written the statement for him, when he was anything but). She looked into the audience and saw how his eyes seemed to alight on an attractive brunette and she seemed to preen at the Commander's attention. Aerith rolled her eyes, anticipating kicking her out of Genesis's bedroom the next morning.

Aerith sighed as she listed in her head the various professions she could have pursued if circumstances were different. She had been told with her quiet beauty that she could easily become a model but lacked the height, she had even obtained some minor modeling jobs, but that was mainly for catalogues. She could have become a nurse and had been complimented that she had a wonderful bedside manner when it came to dealing with people who were ill. Her quiet demeanor seemed to sooth them. She could have become a florist with her natural green thumb. But no, her mother's illness had dictated that she find employment immediately after leaving high school, so she took a fast secretarial course and found employment in a small mortgage firm.

One day she had happened upon an ad looking for a personal assistant at twice her current salary and full medical benefits and applied for it immediately. She had been shown into an office where two men in suits interviewed her while a man wearing a dramatic black and red leather uniform stared at her and she had wondered as to his purpose being there. He looked like a rock star or something. He had blue mako glowing eyes, indicating he was from the SOLDIER program and an arrogant smirk graced his handsome, almost pretty face. He had the porcelain complexion of a true red head and his flame red hair was razor cuts in various length to just about his shoulders. Aerith was made even more nervous as he seemed to undress her with his eyes and wondered if the mako glow did allow his vision to penetrate her clothes and felt like covering herself with her hands as his eyes roved all over her.

Aerith knew little about the SOLDIER program outside of what the general public knew, they were all enhanced, some more so than others and at the centre was the General Sephiroth, who acted as some kind of figurehead and recruitment poster boy. She thought his weird looks a tad creepy and decided she wanted little to do with them. Until she received news that she was hired and she would be the personal assistant to Commander Genesis Rhapsodos. She was elated at first, the hours would allow her stay home in the evenings and weekends to look after her mother. Then she realized who the red clad man had been and wasn't so impressed when she went to thank him for giving her a chance and he gave her a smug smile and said she got the job because she was the prettiest one who applied.

Genesis, there was so many words to describe him: smug, arrogant, spoiled, a braggart, pompous and Aerith's favourite; a pain in her ass.

She shuddered to remember her first morning working with him.

Flashback

She had shown up wearing the prim suit she and her mother had pieced together so Aerith would look more grown up and every inch the professional. Was at his place exactly on time and politely knocked on the door and waited for his response, expecting him to be up and ready to go to his important meeting. However, he didn't respond. So she knocked again and again, yet he appeared not to be home. So she knocked more firmly this time. Finally worried something might have happened to her new employer, she started hammering on his door and it flew open to reveal a highly irritated and hung over looking Commander Rhapsodos sporting a severe case of bedhead and naked as the day he was born.

"What the fuck do you want?" he snarled, looking nonplussed at his own nudity as Aerith stood there with her hand raised in mid-knock and her eyes drifted down the length of his lean, but impressively built, tall body to rest on the first set of male genitals she had ever seen up close. She could feel herself blushing as she averted her eyes. "I am here to pick you up and go over your schedule for the day" she explained.

"Ah that's right, you're the new girl, Alice" he said, holding the door open to her.

"Aerith" she corrected him."Don't you want to put some clothes on?" she asked him in a strangled voice, her face tomato red.

"Fine. Whatever. Come in, I don't bite...hard" he said going into what she supposed was his bedroom and emerging wearing a pair of red pajama pants.

"Where's my coffee?" he demanded of her.

"What coffee?" she asked him.

"I have Starbucks dark roast, triple, triple, size extra large every morning. Didn't those numskulls tell you anything?" he groused, giving her a look that reminded her of her young cousin about to have a temper tantrum.

"I'll go get you one and shall remember that in the future" she said.

"And I like to have cut up fruit and toast in the mornings, prior to having breakfast" he added.

"I'll go fix that for you and then go get your coffee" she said and walked in the direction of what she assumed was the kitchen, noting the red and black motif of his place and decided it had been decorated with more money than taste; the place looked like a brothel. She frowned when a search of the kitchen yielded nothing more than a carton of milk well past the expiry date and a sad and shriveled looking piece of cheese. No fruit, no bread or butter of margarine of any description, but there was plenty of alcohol chilling.

She turned when he joined her. "You don't have any of that" she said.

"Then I suggest you step up your game and stock all that if you are going be preparing them for me every morning, you can pick that up while you are getting my coffee" he ordered her.

"I'm not a maid" she said.

"No you are a personal assistant: describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal tasks. As you work for me, I get to decide what those personal tasks shall be and that includes making my pre-breakfast snack and getting my coffee each morning. Or do you want me have the office call the second most attractive girl there that was interviewed and I offer her the job in your stead?" he coyly asked her.

"But I don't have any money with me, I only had enough for bus fare" she explained as her shoulders sagged.

"You took the bus over here, why did you do that?" he asked her aghast at the idea.

"I don't have a car and the limo can only be ordered for your use" she explained.

He sighed low and deep. "I'm told there is a Starbucks on the corner and a food market a few doors down from here, go pick up what you need while I shower and get dressed" he said impatiently handing her a twenty gils bill and a copy of his keys. "But before you leave, you need to get that female out of my bed, that is also part of your job" he ordered her. "Give her this, her name is Ellen" he ordered her and went to take his shower.

Aerith wrinkled her nose at the smell of stale sex in the air, at least what she assumed it to be, it didn't smell pleasant whatever it was. The blonde woman was still asleep in the round bed, the pedestal and large curved headboard were upholstered in red velvet and the comforter black satin and sheets were red satin. "Excuse me" Aerith said awkwardly clearing her throat and blushed when she accidentally looking into the wastebasket beside the bed to see several used condoms knotted up.

"Huh?" the woman said sitting up and clutching the sheets to her naked bosom. "Who are you?" she demanded of the demure young woman she saw before her.

"I'm Commander Rhapsodos' personal assistant. He asked me to give this to you, Ellen" she said.

"That's Elena" she said and opened the note and her face contorted with anger. She got up and started putting a cocktail dress on and shoving her feet into a pair of discarded shoes. She ran her finger through her short hair to straighten her asymmetrical bob into shape. Taking the twenty gils bill from inside the note, she crumpled it up and threw it on top of the used condoms. "You can tell _Commander_ Rhapsodos to go fuck himself because he's not fucking me ever again. You're a bastard, you should be glad I don't go home and get my gun and come back and shoot you!" she yelled in the direction of the washroom and Aerith found herself stepping before the petite young women involuntarily in case she tried to attack him.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt your precious boss" she said finding her purse and jacket on a chair and putting them on.

"Can I call you a cab?" she asked the enraged young woman.

"I want nothing to do this place, him or you. How can you work for such an asshole?" she asked her. "I'm a woman just like you and you gave me this on his behalf? Don't you have any self respect? Unbelievable" she said as she threw the note at Aerith with a snort and walked out.

Aerith read the note, it seemed to be preprinted and could feel her mouth drop open in shock.

It read:

" _Welcome aboard the S. S. Rhapsodos._

 _I'm glad you "came", but the ride is over._

 _Enclosed you will find twenty gils, you can either use it for breakfast or else cab fare, either way, please depart. Don't bother leaving your contact information, I will get in touch with you if I want to and rather doubt I will._

 _Thank you for understanding and hope you had a great night;_ _which I know you did._

 _Yours,_

 _Genesis_ "

Aerith was stunned at how she had unwittingly insulted the young woman. How could anyone be so cold to give someone a preprinted note after having sex with them and all but ordering them from their lives?

"She gone?" Genesis said coming back with a towel wrapped around his waist and rubbing his hair with another one.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded of him.

He barely glanced at the note "I'm a busy man, I can't have amorous chicks hanging out all day. It's like removing a band aid; it's better to just rip it off" he explained.

"How can you be so cold? I mean sex is supposed to be a strong emotional connection between a man and a woman, a communion of the souls" Aerith said.

"What are you some kind of hippie? Keep that new age shit away from me. Sex is just sex, it's a simple release and it's like pizza; even it's bad, it's still pretty good" he said dismissively.

"I pity you" Aerith thinking about her own situation where she was engaged to a wonderful man who was perfectly fine with waiting until their wedding night to have intercourse. Zack was religious too and they had only ever shared deep soul kisses. She knew that when they first made love, it would be a beautiful experience that would make their hearts and souls connect in a permanent way that no earthly forces could break. So what this stranger was saying sounded sad to her.

"If you you're finished playing the tambourine and singing Kumbaya; go get me my coffee and food, you're making us late" he said dismissively, wondering why the strange girl would pity him.

When she returned she cut up his fruit and made his toast while he got his uniform on and they went over his agenda for the day.

"Come on, I'll take you to Shinra" he said and got his car keys. She white knuckled with each hairpin turn he made in his souped up candy apple red metallic and black corvette convertible. Apparently Genesis was a bit of a speed demon as he drove them there at top speed like he owned the road with a cocky smile on his face and sunglasses on. His red hair streamed after him in the wind and his personalized license plate read 'Loveless'. Aerith cringed as he recited poetry as he drove them at breakneck speeds that caused her to want to puke. She was shaky and pale when he finally roared into his personal parking spot. "What wrong with you?" he said helping the trembling girl out of his passenger seat.

"You are a vehicular accident waiting to happen. Where did you learn to drive, on a racing track?" she demanded.

"I'm a perfectly safe driver" he snapped.

"For a reckless person. Don't you value people's safety at all?" she raged at him, uncharacteristically loud for her.

"You're here in one piece aren't you?" he asked her. "Now about your clothes" he said suddenly changing the topic.

"What about them? This outfit is completely respectable" she said.

"That's the problem, I like to see skin on women when I work with them. It gives me something to focus on during boring times at the office. You have a nice figure, why not flaunt it a little? Let me see some cleavage and shorten that skirt" he suggested, eyeing her blouse that was buttoned all the way up her neck and her shin length skirt.

His eyes went wide when she grabbed the collar of his trench and pulled him forward, thrusting her face inches from his own while she looked up at him. Her face was like a thundercloud. "How dare you. I'm a devout worshiper of the Goddess and I'm engaged to a wonderful man whose shoes you aren't even fit to shine. I will _not_ give you a peepshow and ask that you not parade your sins before me. If you choose to lead a hedonist lifestyle, leave me out of it. I will work as your personal assistant but everything between us shall be strictly professional and I shall obey no commands that have anything to do with nudity or sexual favours on my part. I have ears, I know that you have a reputation of going through personal assistants like water, you have slept with all of them and it is speculated one was paid off to have a redheaded baby in privacy. I don't desire you, heck I'm not sure if I even like you" she said and then thrust him from her and gave him a look of contempt as she stalked ahead of him.

"So kitten has claws? I like feisty women. I think you and I are going to get along just fine" he said approvingly.

She just shut her eyes and counted to ten as her mother had taught her to, Aerith was known for being sweet and kind by nature but she had a temper when provoked.

"Seph, Geal, this is my new personal assistant Amelia, isn't she gorgeous?" he said running into the pair of them and putting his arm around her.

"Aerith" she said through gritted teeth, shaking his arm off of her like it was repulsive to her.

"Charmed, you should meet my PA, her name is Yuffie" Angeal said.

"I'm sure I would enjoy that, sir" she said, charmed by the gracious man's smile and quiet confidence.

"Please call me Angeal, you really are going to have your work cut out working for my childhood friend" he said.

"Thank you, Angeal" she said.

"Don't you wish you had a PA as pretty as mine, Seph?" Genesis persisted.

"I don't need one, all the facts I need are in my head because of my Eidetic memory, rendering someone keeping my schedule to be useless" he said.

"But she is pretty" Genesis said.

"How long before you sleep with her or impregnate her?" Sephiroth asked in a quiet voice.

"That is not going to happen, I'm engaged. I am never going to sleep with you, get that out of your head" she said with a finger jab to punctuate each word to Genesis's firm chest.

"I didn't say that, Sephiroth did" he raged back at her.

"Just get to your meeting" she snapped and stalked off in the direction of the office.

"What a shrew" he complained.

End Flashback

Aerith handed him a towel, knowing how hot he got under the lights, she had been working for him for a couple of weeks now and was learning to tolerate him at least.

"How was I?" he asked her.

"As awe inspiring as ever" she said dismissively.

"I think it is great that I was assigned to a recruitment drive while Sephiroth has to do that boring ribbon cutting ceremony" he said with pride in his voice.

"Someone else had to cover that. Sephiroth was sent on assignment this morning to hunt a monster plaguing bone city" she explained.

"I'm sorry, why didn't they send me?" he said with a slight whine creeping into his voice that he was never aware of.

Aerith smirked, knowing that anything relating to Sephiroth doing literally anything better than Genesis was a sore point with him. "They probably just picked him at random" she said.

"Yes I suppose you're right" he said.

"Commander, will you sign my bra?" the brunette asked him.

"I shall if you come to my place tonight" he suggested.

"I would be delighted. My name is Melanie" she simpered.

"Aerith you'll be okay getting home?" Genesis asked her in a distracted way.

"I'll take the bus" she said, rolling her eyes. Genesis looked sharply up at this. He wasn't the misogynist people took him to be. He did have moral values and principals like everyone else, although his were perhaps a little more relaxed and skewed then others. But that being said, he had never been on a bus in his life and what he imagined were that rapists were lurking at every stop to pray on young girls like Aerith. He barely knew her at all but she was proving to be a good assistant, albeit a dull one and as a man who employed her, he was responsible for her safety while on the job. He imagined an unknowing assailant ripping her clothes from her and taking her on the floor of this "bus" while the great unwashed masses cheered on her downfall.

"You'll take the limousine home. I shall call for a cab" he insisted.

"But a limo in my area would look so wrong" she said with a frown.

"Just do it, tell the driver I authorized it, Come Mindy" he said, taking the brunette's arm.

"That's Melanie" she corrected him.

"Whatever" he dismissively said.


	2. Chapter 2

Aerith arrived at Genesis's place the next day and grinned, now that she was more comfortable with the hot tempered drama king, she had no problem poking fun at the non-morning person that Genesis was. She now knew that her job was secure as she had received praise from Genesis's higher ups, although she did technically work for Genesis, Shinra paid her salary. All reports had been in her favour, Genesis was getting to his important meetings on time and the efficiency by which she organized his life for him led to less temper tantrums on the part of the fiery man.

She opened the door with her key and placed the two coffees on the counter. Taking out an apron she had previously brought over, she efficiently cut up the fruit and put two slices of the crusty white bread he preferred into the toaster to be lightly toasted and buttered.

Dabbing a light perfume under each nostril to counteract the smell, she swept into his room and yanked open the curtains to bathe the room in unforgiving light. "Come on Commander, you have an hour before you have to meet with President Shinra and it's a beautiful day out," she happily tossed over her shoulder, well used to his bedroom shenanigans.

The two figures in bed stirred and Genesis blinked owlishly at her "fuck President Shinra" he growled and put his head under his pillow and then moaned in protest when Aerith snatched it from him and put it on a chair out of his reach.

"You have five minutes before I dump a pail of ice cold water over your head" Aerith said and he rudely told her to go "make love to" herself, picking up his wastepaper basket and sweeping from the room to throw out Genesis's DNA "leavings" from the night before in a garbage bin beside his backdoor that was wheeled out to the curb once a week. She made a mental note to spray his bedroom with air freshener when it was vacant.

She frowned on her return, his lover from the night before was seated at the table and drinking the second cup of coffee she had brought. Aerith knew the fussy man well enough to know that he hated when women lingered, he liked to eat his pre-breakfast snack in peace and drink his coffee. Aerith normally placed everything for him on the table and left him to his own devices while she checked his schedule for the day and returned pertinent emails on her tablet until he summoned her once he was awake enough to drive and in his full uniform. Sometimes it was hard to believe the floppy haired man walking sleepily around his place was the same one after he had showered, gelled his hair and dressed, until he looked as immaculately put together as ever.

"That's the Commander's food," she softly objected when the woman identified as Melanie went to steal a strawberry.

"So I guess you had better make some more for me, that looks good" she said.

Aerith opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't a maid, but then decided it wasn't that big a deal to cut up some more fruit and make some more toast if it meant getting rid of the other woman before Genesis blew a gasket at how tardy the woman was being with her departure. "Okay but after this, I'm afraid you have to leave. Commander Rhapsodos has a full schedule today and we must leave soon. Shall I call you a cab? He will gladly cover your fare" Aerith offered as she cut up fruit as fast as she could. The toast popped up.

"I'm not accustomed to being ordered from a place by the hired help. I like my toast much darker" she admonished her.

Aerith counted to ten and went to depress knob on the toaster "no you ruined that batch. Start again, why Genesis keeps you around? I don't know. You're worse than useless" Melanie sneered. "I'm not liking this coffee either, go back to Starbucks and get me a mocaccino with chocolate shavings and a cherry on top" she ordered Aerith and dumped her coffee down the drain and threw out the cup.

Genesis witnessed most of what his lover from the night before was saying to his Personal Assistant and was livid. His adopted father, Damian Rhapsodos was a man with a quick temper who was unapologetic about it. He frequently would yell at his staff and Genesis and abuse them all over any slight, no matter how small. Genesis hated when he bossed staff members around who were kind to him and frequently leapt to their defense. Damian had made it clear after the demise of Genesis's adopted mother, who had loved him, that he had only been tolerated by his adopted father. It was she who had found Genesis in the forest when he was just a few days old and defied her husband by adopting the redheaded foundling, giving him his divine first name and her husband's last name. Damian had grudgingly allowed it but made no secret that he didn't like the redheaded boy who bore his last name, but was an intruder in his home and of dubious origins. He liked to mock him for his flame bright hair colour.

Genesis had been twelve when his mother passed and had worked hard to make his father proud of him, but he was never good enough because he wasn't his true born son. He would call him names like: bastard, mongrel and speculate that his true mother was a crack whore and his father, an anonymous client of hers.

Genesis had taken to getting out of the mansion whenever possible, something that became easier when he met a local boy named Angeal.

Angeal was even back then, the sort of person who took troubled people under his wing. He soon was inviting Genesis to visit his much more humble home and Genesis learned that real families loved and supported each other and Genesis's mother had, adopted or not. Gillian was a kind mother to Angeal and fussed over him and was nice to Genesis, Angeal's father was only his step-father but was obviously loved and was proud of Angeal as well. Yet is was Angeal who suggested they go and join the SOLDIER program and become heroes. Genesis agreed at once, if only to get away from Damian, his mother had had money of her own and willed it all to Genesis, as if in anticipation that he would need it to rid himself of her husband. Yet, part of him still longed to prove himself to his adopted father by becoming the biggest hero the world has ever known. "I'm sorry Mindy, why are you making demands of my personal assistant?" he asked the woman at his table.

A pair of blue eyes and a pair of green eyes turned his way "Melanie" they both corrected him at the same time.

"Whatever. Okay Melanie, are you married to me?" he asked her.

"No" she said, looking back at him when his eerily glowing eyes seemed to intensify until they blazed like twin blue flames.

"Then I suggest that you stop acting like the lady of the manor and if you want something, you ask for it politely. This lady is my, I repeat, _my_ personal assistant, you will not address her like a scurry maid, she is employed in the capacity to administrate the business side of my life and do personal tasks that I assign her, within reason, not you" he said and leaned over the table and placed his hands on it and glared at her, looking an avenging angel, should said angel have bed head, be topless and wearing a pair of red pajama pants low on his hips and a pair of red crocs on his feet.

"I was just wanting breakfast" she softly said.

"Great, I'm told there's a MacDonald's in that direction. Go get yourself a Mcwhatever the fuck they serve in the mornings and get dressed and out of my home and never come back, I cannot tolerate rudeness in people" he snapped.

"Fine I'm leaving" Melanie and a minute later, the door to his house slammed shut.

"Aerith, as it appears we have extra food this morning, won't you sit down?" Genesis said, taking a seat at his usual place.

"You didn't have to defend me that way" she said, sitting down with him, surprised he was offering, he never seemed to want company at the table before.

"She was being rude in my house to my employee, you were not the only one being insulted" Genesis said. "Would you like something to drink?" he suddenly asked her.

"I'll get myself some water" she said.

"You can have some of my coffee" he offered.

"I only drink tea" she admitted, causing Genesis to go rummage in a cupboard and triumphantly hold up a tea bag.

"Is green okay?" he asked her.

"Sure, I'll make it" she said getting up and he put his hands on her shoulders to stop her.

"I am perfectly capable of boiling water" he said pulling out a kettle, filling it and putting it on the stovetop.

Aerith didn't know what to make of this more caring Genesis as he placed the cup before her and sat down, she dubiously nibbled on a strawberry while taking small bites of toast and expected him to pick up his newspaper and read it the way he normally did, instead he fiddled with it and then turned questioning eyes on her. "The first day you came here, you said you pity me. What did you mean by that?" he asked her.

"It wasn't meant to be an insult or judgment, it just seems that with all the casual sex you have, that it's a lonely way to live" she observed.

"I'm far from lonely" he said with amusement in his voice of her assessment of his life.

"Yes but you have no one, you have no connection to any of them, emotionally or physically. There is no one for you to talk to at the end of the day or even receive a hug from" she explained.

His eyes narrowed at this "I assure you I get plenty of _hugs_."

"But none of these people seem to care about you. Who comes to look after you when you're ill?" she asked him.

"I don't get ill because of my mako treatments" he stiffly said, wondering why he felt annoyed at what she said. It was just an observation made by a near stranger and an employee at that. Her opinions shouldn't matter. "And I suppose that your fiance is your entire world?" he asked with a smirk.

"His name is Zack Fair and he's just as devoted to the Goddess as myself and a good man. I look forward to spending my life with him" she said.

"Zack Fair, as in the war correspondent? I'm impressed, but don't you worry about him?" Genesis asked her, knowing him to be a risk taker to the point it was speculated that he was addicted to danger.

"The Goddess protects Zack; she always has" Aerith said with a tender smile.

"Okay so this Zack is the greatest guy on Gaia?" he asked her.

"He's a person with flaws like anyone else" she said with a giggle.

"How is your sex life?" Genesis asked her out of the blue.

"What? We're waiting for marriage" she explained.

"Really? How long have you been engaged?" he asked her.

"Three years, we're planning to set a date once he gets back from his latest assignment" she explained.

"The poor guy must have a severe case of blue balls" Genesis observed.

"What are those?" Aerith asked him with a frown.

Genesis's could feel his eyebrows creeping up in shock "what exactly have you done together, cunnilingus, fellatio?" he asked her.

"What are those?" she asked him.

"Aerith have you ever engaged in _any_ type of sexual activity of any description with a man?" he finally asked her.

"I've kissed Zack a lot, I mean a lot and once, I touched his, you know...through his pants" she admitted with a deep blush.

"Penis" Genesis automatically corrected her, causing her to blush even deeper.

Aerith's eyes grew wide at this, with her obvious innocence, few people ever openly discussed sex in front of her and she found this frustrating. She had taken health class and knew how things worked and had read blushingly some romance novels but even her best friend, Tifa seemed reluctant to discuss sex with her. Sometimes her innocent appearance worked against her in this regard. Therefore, Genesis being so candid with her was embarrassing but refreshing at the same time.

"Hasn't Zack tried anything with you?" he interrupted.

"No he respects me too much for that" she explained, while another part supplied he was never around enough to.

"And he's a virgin as well?" Genesis questioned her.

"No Zack has known some other women" she said.

"Typical" Genesis said with a derisive snort.

"What do you mean?" Aerith asked him.

"The good old double standard when it comes to men and women, men when they hit puberty are encouraged to sow their wild oats and women are taught to cross their legs to protect a useless membrane that serves no purpose. Does that seem fair to you?" he asked her.

Aerith was struck dumb by this. "But the hymen must be respected, it is in the teaching of the Goddess" she objected.

"It's useless, it can easily be broken by a bicycle seat, riding a horse or just a woman having an active lifestyle. If is so important, shouldn't the Goddess make it more durable? If I were a woman, I would have gotten that thing broken as soon as possible, if I had to take break it with a broom handle" Genesis said.

"My virginity is pledged to the man I marry" she defensively said.

"Well you don't have to worry about me trying to seduce you" he said.

"You don't find me attractive?" she asked, feeling a little hurt.

"On the contrary, you appear to have a nice body underneath those ghastly prim clothes. Even though you're petite, your body is well toned. Your hips are well rounded and womanly, your waist small, your belly flat and your limbs are long and supple. Your breasts are the perfect size for your body and are neither too big or too small and I suspect your nipples are supersensitive to the touch. That being said, I don't go in for virgins, they are way too emotional. I like my women experienced." he explained.

"Yes and they all look _so_ happy when they storm out of here" Aerith pointed out to him as she watched him as he ate a grape.

"Women know of my reputation and yet they are disappointed when I treat them as that same reputation dictated I would. I don't hate women, I love all types of women, from the caramel skinned mother-Gaia type women, to narrow hipped, short haired boy-girls. I'm a true voluptuary. Women come to my bed knowing what I can offer them and leave satisfied. I normally don't see any of them a second time because I don't want to encourage them to become too attached. I'm not looking to settle down and doubt I ever will. I think monogamy to be an outdated idea" he explained.

"But what about falling in love? Perhaps you will want children someday?" Aerith asked him, feeling sad for his chosen lifestyle.

"I'm never going to procreate" he with vehemence in his voice that gave her pause. "I don't believe in love. Love does not exist."

"It does exist, I feel it every time I look at Zack or even talk to him. When we make love the first time, I know that it will be perfect" she said with a sigh that made Genesis roll his eyes.

"I could easily seduce you but it's not in my nature" Genesis said.

Aerith turned wild eyes on him. "You are questioning my convictions?"

"No I am not, but you would be a pushover. Not due to your religion, but how your untouched body would react when hormones took over. It would be easy, I would bring you somewhere where you feel safe, but we are alone. I would give you a few drinks to loosen you up but not make you unable to say no. I would begin by taking you on my lap and kissing you and whispering sweet nothings in your ear until you are so into it that you barely notice I'm feeling you up outside your clothes, then I would slip my hands into your clothes and be playing with your nipples before you knew it and that would spike your arousal. If I were a real cad, I would claim to be in love with you and need to have you, I would talk you into allowing me to go down on you. Once your virgin cunny is bared to me and you completely stripped to the skin, I would praise you until you felt less nervous and you would be sunk from the second I orally pleasured you until you cried my name as you came. I would probably become even more of a cad and tell you that if you love me, you would allow our bodies to join. I might even suggest that the Goddess intended for this to happen at how beautiful it felt. It would only hurt for a little bit when I thrust inside you and take your virginity. Soon you would experience only pure pleasure until your first penis induced orgasm makes the world shatter around you" he said, finishing his coffee.

Aerith gulped, not sure what to make of the strange feeling of arousal, she had experienced it when kissing Zack, but was too innocent to know why there was a throbbing in her groin. "Do you think really this a proper conversation for the breakfast table?" she complained but he grinned at the flush of arousal on her face.

"I was just trying to explain what I would do if I were a cherry picker, but I'm not. You're perfectly safe with me. So you'll marry your fiancé a virgin and until then, I guess it's masturbation city for Zackie-poo and yourself" Genesis said.

"I doubt that Zack does that" she objected.

"He's a male you kiss a lot, of course he does" Genesis said. "Heck I get laid almost every night, except Sundays; Sunday is my day of rest like the Goddess and even I rub one out once in a while. It's good to clean out the pipes. How often do you?" he asked her out of curiosity.

"I've never" she all but whispered.

"Never, as in seriously never?" Genesis said with incredulity in his voice.

"It's gross...down there and smells funny" she said with a blush.

"Vagina, it's call a vagina. There is nothing wrong with it. A woman's vagina is actually quite beautiful for the most part and I bet yours is really pretty. They don't smell funny if they are kept clean and I personally like how they taste. You should learn to pleasure yourself, it is good and healthy and there is nothing against it in the teachings of the goddess" he said.

"I don't know how" she admitted.

"Call the President and tell him we're going to be late. Let's go to my computer" Genesis said and Aerith was embarrassed as a male, and not even one she was intimately involved with explained female masturbation to her . "See? A lot of women like to start by stimulating their nipples and some just prefer to just go straight for the vagina. You just have to play around and find a combination that you like, a lot of women tell me they like to teased the surrounding area, lightly pinching their inner thighs and all that before they start tracing their lips and then slowly easing between them..."

"Genesis, I'm not really comfortable with this" Aerith interrupted and clenched her legs against the tingle there, yet the image of a spread open vagina remained on his screen.

"This is for your own good, no wonder you're so uptight. Now onto sex toys. There are two different types, ones that vibrate and ones that don't. Here are your typical variety. Most are shaped like a man's penis, but I can't imagine you using one of those because of the Goddess's need for hymen protection. However, the vibrating variety can be used on the clit; it's very pleasant I'm told. We can stop at a sex shop on our way in and I'll buy one for you if you wish. It would be my treat" he said, glancing up at the blushing girl.

"Thanks, I don't need that" she stiffly said, wishing the man would stop talking about sex as casually as if he were talking about the weather. Her breathing had deepened as she imagined Zack doing to her what apparently as called cunnilingus. "It's getting hot in here" she complained.

Genesis got up and revealed his own state of arousal to her and she stared at the tent in his pants like it was about to attacked her. "You're aroused because of our discussion, that will dissipate soon. My own erection shall once I take care of it in the shower" he said and shot her a teasing smile as he walked away.

Aerith was back to her old self when he finally joined her dressed and ready for the day. "Here, take this" he said handing her a hand mirror.

"What do I need it for?" she asked him.

"So you can look at yourself, your vagina. It's not dirty and not gross. Really see what you look like. That's the first step. You should try it tonight" he urged her.

"You're entirely too focused on my sexuality" she said taking the mirror from him as they departed for the drive into Shinra HQ; he noticed she didn't give it back.

Aerith had butterflies in her stomach after her mother had gone to bed. She waited for her sleeping pills to kick in and then went into the washroom and ran a nice warm bath, she was just bathing she told herself as she got out of her clothes and looked at herself in the full length mirror, seeing herself as a sexual being for the first time. Genesis had been correct about her body in his description, years of martial arts had given her a supple, yet toned body with lightly muscled legs, softly sculpted abs, strong, full hips and firm upstanding breasts topped with large rubbery pink nipples. As if in a trance, she experimentally stroked one of them and hissed at the experience, soon as she was rubbing them and lightly squeezing them as the tingle in her groin intensified with each squeeze. Finally she lowered herself into the tub and spread her legs and a trembling hand held the mirror hand angled between her well spread legs. She frowned, she didn't see how it resembled a flower but spread open, her womanhood was delicately pink and the whorls of her inner lips were not unattractive, she could make out everything, even the small kernel of her pleasure as it peeked shyly out beneath its concealing hood. Could such a tiny thing really bring her pleasure if touched, she wondered doubtfully? The moist looking entrance of her vagina was tiny and she wondered if she could truly take a man into her body. Her hand trembled as it covered the whole of her vagina and she ground it experimentally against herself. She moaned at the sensation and soon one hand muffled her cries as her legs were thrown over sides of the tub as her fingers ground against her clit and her body felt as tight as a wound up spring, she imagined Zack watching her do this and then imagined her hand to be his and she came hard with a muffled scream for the first time in her life and panted through pink full lips, she had never felt so alive!

Genesis hadn't even taken anyone to his bed that evening, he had been too enthralled at the idea of his prim and proper PA pleasuring herself, he could tell his advice had worked and smirked at her. He was already up and awake when she walked in with a spring in her step.

"Look whose up?" she said to him, "here's your coffee. Cherries were on special today, so I picked some up" she said giving him a look that was almost teasing.

"I don't much care for them because the pits" he complained.

"I'll remove the pits for you and I have a little trick I can do with the stems" she said.

"Oh?" he said and his eyes went wide when she easily knotted one with her tongue.

"So how did it go?" he asked her.

"I'll never tell, that is between the Goddess and myself" she said primly. Taking a toothpick she expertly twisted the pit out of one of the deep red cherries and impulsively offered it to him. He took it between his lips, giving her fingers a playful nip and her mischievous smile as he chewed on it. She found herself staring at his full lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss him and taste the cherry juice on his tongue, she shook her head to clear it of the image, it was so unlike her to feel attracted to other men. Of course she knew that Genesis was attractive, but it was like she had never really seen him before. She was attracted and in love with Zack, when she got to see him that is, he always seemed to be on assignment somewhere in the world.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Genesis interrupted her.

"I was thinking about what curtains to get for our living room, we need to replace our old faded ones" she said with a blush.

"I'm sure the Goddess will assist you with that decision" he said stretching in a way that caused his bare torso to flex and she found herself studying him with interest and then looking away.

"The Goddess's wisdom guides me in all decisions" she said, feeling disturbed by the effect he was having on her.

"You might not want to tell her about this one. Whether you choose to use it is up to you" he said handing her a box and she blushed when she beheld the smoothly pointed purple vibrator. "It's six inches long, has a silicone coating, has multi speeds and is silent and waterproof. You don't need to insert it and break your seal, just try it against your clit" he advised her and Aerith could only wonder why she had such an odd relationship with her boss.


	3. Chapter 3

Aerith was in her office when Genesis came fuming in and flung himself on her couch like he wished to break it and crossed his arms over his chest. She looked at him and saved the work she was doing, knowing she wasn't going to get it completed until he was done ranting about whatever was bothering him. Unfortunately, with his volatile temper that could be anything, but she suspected it had something to do with Sephiroth; it usually did.

"Trouble in paradise my great Commander?" she asked him from her place at the desk.

"That...jerk" he said not able to think of a word strong enough to describe how Sephiroth irked him.

"What did Sephiroth do this time?" she prompted him, angling her office chair so it was facing him and resting her chin on her hand.

"We were sparring in the virtually reality room. I was besting him and I tripped over a brick, in a virtually reality program. How is that even possible?" he snapped.

She was biting her lip to try not to laugh that Commander Genesis Rhapsodos, SOLDIER 1st Class looked like a petulant child having a temper tantrum, which he was. He looked rather endearing when he did this, all he needed was a pout. Although she would never admit that to him.

After the whole masturbation incident, she had been afraid he would try and corrupt her, but hadn't. He maintained his life style of having casual sex with near strangers and treated her as his employee, which she was. She felt she had changed a bit in the fact that she was more aware of how men stared at her then before. It was like she was more grown up and finally realized what was going to happen in her marriage bed, of course she had known what would happen before but now knew what her body enjoyed. She didn't do it too often or infrequently, it was something she enjoyed and harmed no one.

Her clothing had changed in that she still dressed conservatively, but ensued her bulky sweaters and shapeless dressed for more fitted clothes, not that there was really anyone to impress or so she told herself.

"It happens, you didn't do anything wrong. You're such a brat with that temper of yours that I sometimes want to put you over my lap and spank the nonsense out of you" she teased him.

"You wouldn't dare and you are not allowed to call me brat" he groused.

"No wonder you and Sephiroth are always at odds, you're fire, he's ice and Angeal is both your handlers. Gen, you shouldn't get so worked up, you're both equally as skilled with a sword, you're no slouch in the looks department either and have a lot better personality" Aerith said joining him on the couch when he sat up, still hunched over in anger.

"Take your trench off" she suggested.

"Now you're trying to get me naked?" he asked her facetiously but did as she requested and draped it over the arm of the couch.

"I have my Goddess seal to protect me from you" she said, being far cheekier than she normally would because of her good news. Zack was coming home soon!

"You're incorrigible today" Genesis observed, noticing how happy she seemed and couldn't help returning her smile and his black mood evaporated and he wondered why she and she alone had that effect on him.

"Face away from me" she said.

"Like this?" he asked her presenting his back to her. "The more interesting parts of me are in front" he teased her.

"More than half the women in town know that" she said and then reached forward and started massaging his shoulders through his thin black shirt and the areas of his broad back that his trench normally covered. Having a mother with a debilitating disease effecting most of her body had made Aerith a near professional masseuse as she lovingly massaged as much pain as she could away almost nightly.

"That feels so good" he moaned and relaxed into the motions of her small, yet strong hands as they found knots and with firm pressure and strategically placed rubs that seem to melt away to the encouragement of the highly vocal man. She thought nothing of wrapping her arms around him at the end and giving him a backwards hug before drawing back. They had become friends of a sort and she was a touchy feely sort of woman when she felt someone needed a hug.

"Thank you, but you shouldn't touch a man so causally" he cautioned her.

"Or what? You'll attempt to rape me, if you were to corrupt me anything further, we would be going on a date where you buy me a milkshake and then we go see a Disney movie and hold hands" she teased him.

"Would that be the sort of date you enjoy?" he asked her out of curiosity suddenly picturing what she was saying, it actually seemed like a fun idea. When was the last time just he spoke with a woman and held hands with one while watching a movie? Never, his times spent with them started where he met them and ended up in his bed with very little conversation exchanged.

"Down boy, I'm taken" she reminded him and wondered why he looked slightly hurt at that. "Besides, all I did was give you a PG-13 backrub and a hug, but I guess you're more used to people touching you when they're riding on top of you. You really do seem tense. Perhaps you need to get laid?" she suggested, quirking a slim eyebrow at him.

"The innocent Aerith is suggesting I need to get laid? This is a first" he observed, dismissing the strange twinge in his chest when Aerith reminded him about her fiancé.

"Well you haven't been lately and I'm starting to miss the porn film that is your life. I hadn't gotten any dick flashes from you lately" she teased him and gave him a leer.

"Now you're saying dick? you really are being corrupted by me" he said.

"Oh yeah our Ikea trip yesterday was the height of taboo" she said. Genesis had started giving her rides home because he seemed to be paranoid about the local public transportation system. She had assured him that it was perfectly safe and that only people you tended to meet on an average day that were odd, was the occasional crazy person. Yet he seemed to think that the only people riding the buses were dangerous criminals and rapists bent on harming her. Nothing she could say would dissuade him of this notion, even her offering to take him on the bus with her (a suggestion that had been met with a look of shock). So every morning a limo picked her up in front of her humble home and dropped her off in front his much more expensive one. Then either he would drive her home at the end of the day or the limo like she was precious cargo. It was very odd. The first time he had gazed upon the house she shared with her mother, he looked questioningly at it.

Soon her mother Elmyra learned that her boss was driving her home and insisted he be invited in for his trouble. She had been shocked when he accepted and had been polite when given a tour of their place, even though he did look a tad surprised that two people could dwell in so small a place. He had even accepted her mother's offer of homemade pie and tea and complimented her on both. He didn't act imperious or snobby, nor did he act like a young man courting. He accepted her mother's thanks for giving Aerith the job and didn't mention that it was her figure that netted her the position. Him coming in for a few minutes at least soon became a habit to the point he would be invited to dinner upon occasion but always politely declined. Aerith was surprised how many facets there were to the volatile man.

The Ikea trip hadn't been planned, the dresser Aerith had been coveting had finally gone on sale and she explained she needed to go there right after they were finished for the day, but she would take the bus. He had insisted on driving her and even accompanied her to the store, looking questioningly at the cheap items of furniture on display and at the overwhelming number of people there with small children.

His uniform and sword got quite the stares, especially in the cafeteria where he seemed unsure what to order, until Aerith ordered them two manager special meatball dinners and explained that going to the cafeteria was part of the Ikea experience. He had eaten while people stared at them and then they walked through the entire store until Aerith found her dresser and copied down the aisle and bin number.

Genesis appeared rather overwhelmed at how common people lived as he trailed along after her but had thrown a hissy fit when it was explained to him that he would have to carry the box and drive it home. So with it just wedged into the trunk of his sporty little car, he had driven her home and vowed to never go there again.

"So what are your plans for tonight?" Genesis asked her.

"Tifa's coming over and we are drinking wine and putting my dresser together, I've already thrown away the instructions" Aerith cheerfully said.

"Why would you do that?" he asked her.

"The instruction normally suck anyway so it's fun to try and figure it out like a giant puzzle" she explained.

"Would you like some help?" he asked her. He didn't know why he felt so curious about her life but he did, it was like he was snooping. He had so far met her mother, her very busty friend and her boyfriend, Detective Sergeant Vincent Valentine of the Midgar police department. Even Genesis had been a tad unnerved by his red eyed stare, quiet ways and the huge gun he carried that Genesis was positive wasn't standard issue.

Aerith bit the inside of her lip to stop from laughing at the image of the half assembled dresser crashing through her front window while her neighbours were treated to the sight of an elite army Commander stomping around like an enraged three year old holding a screwdriver and loudly complaining about how the piece of furniture was fighting him. They would wonder what the hell was defending their country. "It's women only" she hastily said. "I'm sure you have a blonde on the menu for tonight" she added.

"Something like that" he lied. He actually hadn't been taking women home for a while now and claimed that they had already left, while he had been waiting impatiently for Aerith to show up so they could have fruit and toast together. There was something so calming about her presence as she sat at his table with him drinking her tea in her charming way and going over his day. She reminded him so much of his long dead mother, the only person he had ever loved. Her smile alone would soothe him as much as his father's taunts would enrage him. After she died, he had started wearing loud red clothes that showcased his own natural hair colour, that proclaimed him not to be the true born son of Damian and Cassandra Rhapsodos, them both being brunettes. If he was going to be a redheaded mongrel, he was going to do it on his terms.

Damian's anger became focused on his son when his wife died, Genesis could do nothing right, he mocked everything about him, including his love for poetry and the theatre, he called him a fag and claimed he was having relations with Angeal. Genesis had taken an older woman, who always looked at him too longingly, right on the front lawn in full view of his father; he had been 14. He shared his body with all women who would have him from that day forward, paying his father back for his insult many times over.

Tifa's and Aerith's and Elmyra's eyes flicked from one part of the dresser to the other, having no idea how to assemble it. They each had a glass of wine.

"Perhaps you can ask Genesis for help?" Elmyra suggested again.

"Richie Rich would be as useless as tits on a bull. I doubt he even knows how to wipe his own ass" Tifa said dismissively.

"Language, I'm not such an old fossil that I can't put you over my knee and spank you" Elmyra chided her.

"Sorry, I'm just saying rich men are pretty useless when it comes to practical stuff" Tifa explained.

"I wouldn't call this practical" Aerith mournfully said, looking at the dismal unassembled sight before them.

"Well grab a power tool and let's get this party started" Tifa said, picking up an electric drill and squeezing the handle suggestively.

"I'm pretty sure we don't need a drill for this" Aerith said with a frown.

A couple of hours later, they looked in triumph at the dresser, "we did it and only have a couple of extra parts left" Tifa said.

"I'm sure those are supposed to be part of the dresser. Is it really supposed to lean to one side like that? The other dressers in the store were straight" Aerith said.

"Nah they always give you spare parts. The dresser is perfect" Tifa declared, giving it a pat that made it list even more to one side. "More wine?" she asked her.

"I had better not, I have to pick Genesis up in the morning" Aerith declined.

"What's going on between you two?" Tifa suddenly asked her.

"Nothing, we have a professional relationship" she dismissively said.

"Yet you go over every morning to get him ready for work like he's a three year old and not a man of twenty five. You work with him all day long and then he drives you home, to be invited inside your home. Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two? I'm only asking because I'm your friend and Zack's the best friend of my own boyfriend and your Lord Pain In the Ass has a reputation as being a hobag" she said.

"Nonsense, he acts like a perfect gentlemen when he's here. You shouldn't use that language" Elymyra chided her.

"He's not half as bad as he seems, he actually is quite charming when you get to know him. There is nothing going on, I am still a virgin saving myself for marriage. Nothing has changed about me" she lied, thinking about the purple vibrator concealed in her nightstand.

"Okay good, but if you were a different sort of girl free of religious convictions and not engaged, my advice would be much different. I would tell you to take him to your bed for a week and get him out of your system. I'm sensing there is more to your relationship then you are telling me. He may be high maintenance but he's a looker" Tifa whispered to her when her mother went to use the washroom.

"There is nothing going on but a rather weird friendship between us and an employer/employee relationship" Aerith assured her.

"Happy Birthday, someone's twenty five today" Aerith said and blew a blow tickler into his face that bopped against Genesis's nose, "I brought oranges and strawberries, but with chocolate dipping sauce in honour of your birthday" she said stepping into his place.

"That's very kind but I'm not much into birthdays" he said.

"So are any balls with fireworks being thrown in your honour?" she teased him.

"No I have plans with a pair of twins tonight, I'm taking them to dinner and then will have them for dessert" he lied. "You won't see it because you have the day off tomorrow" he reminded her.

"I could come help take the trash out...and the girls and then take you to breakfast" Aerith offered, somehow that he didn't have plans with even a close friend disturbed her.

"No, you should be with your mother in case she gets sick" he said, now knowing that Aerith took the job to support Elmrya after she had been diagnosed with Lupus and it had gotten worse to the point she couldn't work. The medical benefits had been the main draw and he wondered how anyone could be loyal to an adoptive parent. Of course he could understand doing that for his dead mother but his father...

"Is there anything you want for your birthday? Another pair of dangling earrings perhaps?" she asked him while they ate.

"No it's okay, you don't need to buy me a present" he assured her.

"Come on there must be some way that you celebrate your birthday, besides with sins of the flesh" Aerith said, giving him a hug without thinking and looking up at him with her gentle jade eyes and it was like he wanted to drown in their innocent limpid depths and he found himself telling her something he had never told a woman before.

"There was something I used to do with my mother when I was young. We would go pick dumbapples off this large tree on my father's property on my birthday and she would serve a freshly baked pie made for them the day after my birthday for breakfast to prolonged my birthday. I sometimes wish I could have that from her again...listen to me rambling, we should go" he said, feeling foolish. Getting his car keys, he locked the door behind him and Aerith followed him lost in thought, he rarely every spoke about his family.

She waited until she got into her office before she closed the door and she called Vincent "you know your friend the helicopter pilot? How much would he charge to fly me to Banora?" she asked him.

Elmyra and Tifa looked up in surprise when a highly disheveled Vincent and Aerith came into her house, Aerith had rents in her office attire and carried a basket of blue apples. "Okay what happened?" Tifa demanded, her boyfriend and Aerith had actual twigs in their hair. She and Elmyra had both gathered together at Elmyra's house after receiving a strange phone call from Vincent.

"I insisted on accompanying Reno and Aerith on this foolish mission" Vincent said.

"It wasn't foolish, I wanted to do something nice for a friend on his birthday" Aerith hotly objected.

"Yeah since when are you and Richie Rich friends?" Tifa asked but Aerith just ignored her.

"To get apples; you could have gone to any grocery store for those" Vincent shot back.

"Not these ones, they only grow in Banora" she said.

"So what happened?" Tifa asked.

"We got onto the property just fine and found the tree, I told Aerith to pick the ones off the ground but she insisted the ones on the top branches had the most exposure to the sun and would be riper as result. So she insisted she climb the tree, did I mentioned this was the biggest apple tree I have ever seen? I gave her a hand up and then suddenly we are surrounded by dogs and I ran and she scaled up the tree and shouted encouraging after me to "run faster"" he deadpanned. "Meanwhile I'm running and does she try to aid me in any way? Perhaps throw an apple at the dogs or try to distract them as I'm running all over the place? No, she's up the tree picking apples."

"I'm not the dog whisperer" she objected.

"The groundskeeper shows up and finally calls the dogs off but threatens to call the police, I told him we got lost and she climbed a tree to find our way back to the road. But he didn't believe me because she obviously had her backpack full of apples. Security guards showed up and we were escorted to the mansion, where we met Genesis's father" Vincent explained.

"Who's a real jerk" Aerith spat with distaste in her voice. "I explained who I was and why I was there and he said some horrible things about Genesis" she added remembering how his own father had referred to him as a bastard mongrel, who had more pomp than brains and a strutting peacock he was ashamed of.

"Then Aerith called him a needle dicked chicken fucker and just to add insult to injury added; really out of 100,000 sperm, you were the fastest? Then went on to imply his mother enjoyed the company of many bed partners" Vincent finished.

"I got mad" she said.

"Where did you learn such language? Not from me" Elmrya said with shock in her voice and Tifa blushed and looked away.

"Mr. Rhapsodos was very mad at the insult but said that if we gave him back his property and promised never return, he wouldn't press charges" Vincent continued. "It would have been fine if Aerith hadn't thrown her backpack full of apples at him. Well, I revealed my position in the police department and managed to get her released into my custody and brought her right home" Vincent said.

"Aerith, your temper's going to get you in trouble one day" Elmyra sighed.

"So where did these apples come from?" Tifa asked them intrigued.

"While we were dealing with security, the irate groundskeeper and Mr. Rhapsodos, Reno snuck up the tree and stole the apples" Vincent finished with a weary sigh.

"All that for apples? They had better cure cancer or something for all that trouble" Elmyra said looking doubtfully at them.

"No they're going into a pie" Aerith said, picking up the basket and walking purposefully towards the kitchen.

"I think I preferred when she was younger and all I had to worry about was her bringing home wounded animals" Elmyra sighed.

Genesis got up on a Saturday and planned to update his Loveless Memorabilia room. He had received some new rare theater posters and had those mounted for his collection. He went out front to get his newspaper and frowned to find it sitting on top of a white pastry box with a pink ribbon around it and a card on top. He read the card and realized it was from Aerith and could only wonder how she had gotten to and from Banora to pick the apples from his father's tree but cut himself a slice of the homemade pie, certain he would be hearing from his father soon. His closed in appreciation of the taste he hadn't realized he had missed so much and it was he was sitting beside his mother in the kitchen of the mansion again as her smile of pure love beamed down on him. His eyes opened when he felt moisture on his cheek and wiped away a tear and silently thanked the Goddess for bringing such a sweet woman into his life.


	4. Chapter 4

Aerith couldn't help grin from her place on the sidelines of the conference as the three 1st class SOLDIERS were lined up for what Genesis had sourly explained to her was a pep rally. Publicity was something people expected of them and so they were paraded about whenever possible by the President of Shinra at his insistence.

She knew them all pretty well by now, Sephiroth was the androgynous looking one who was a man of few words but all of them intelligent when he spoke, who seemed unapproachable but possessed a biting wit and dry sense of humor to those he deemed worthy to display it to. He no longer looked creepy to Aerith who was used to him by now.

Beside him was Angeal, who was broader than both other men and ruggedly handsome, who was the natural ambassador of the other two and sometimes referee and _nanny_ when the ice man clashed with the fiery man and they melted all over each other.

Then there was Genesis or "Gen" as his two close friends called him and her too now, the classic pretty boy with a sarcastic wit and natural flare for dramatics. That one was hers if he could be described that way. It seemed to be that her main job was to curtail his fits of childlike anger.

She knew that none of the men wanted to be present as they were displayed like zoo animals before the crowd and their various fan clubs. Yes, they each had their own clubs that identified themselves with t-shirts, buttons or even small flags with their pictures on them.

Aerith was close enough to see that the men had been professionally made over by a makeup artist to subtly bring out their best features and knew they hated to wear makeup like a lady at any given time.

She could make out the eyeliner under Gen's eyes and gave him a sympathetic smile, knowing he would rather be anywhere else. None of the three men liked exhibited this way, they were much more comfortable either in the privacy of their own places or when all three were together, they were all close friends despite the fact that Sephiroth and Genesis clashed upon occasion. That was mainly due to Genesis always trying to one up him.

Aerith found herself being included in their infrequent times when they all got together. She felt privileged to be included in so a reclusive a social group, not knowing that Sephiroth and Angeal had grown curious to want to learn why Genesis was ferrying a lowly PA about like she was his precious charge or something and acting completely out of character and determined that they should get to know her.

They had each given a speech and were now answering questions in as brief a manner as possible when Aerith spotted the man with a gun.

"Rhapsodos, you slept with my woman" he yelled and went to fire the gun, the bullet flew over the now prone body of Genesis where Aerith had launched herself at him and knocked him down, her years of martial arts training causing her react instinctively. Then she was on her feet and a whirl of pink as she karate chopped and took the gunman down with well placed roundhouse kick, knocking the would-be murder unconscious. Then she was back at Genesis's side as she knelt over him, inspecting him for injuries. "Gen are you okay?" she asked him. He seemed unable to speak for once when he looked up at her and wondered if what he had witnessed was true. Had he _really_ , someone of his stature been rescued by his demure little PA as if he were a damsel in distress? He could only blush as red as his hair when Aerith helped him to his feet and began fussily straightening his uniform like he was a child about to be introduced to an important relative for the first time.

"Wow, did you see that? Is the SOLDIER program taking in females now?" a person close to them asked

"I thought that SOLDIERS were mainly about swords? She's definitely a martial artist" someone else said.

"Aerith, please stop fussing over me" he hissed at her.

Angeal supervised as the male was arrested, leaving only Sephiroth to man the microphones. He went forward. "We would like to thank you for coming to witness our new demonstration where women are trained in martial arts to act as bodyguards, posing in administrative roles for their clients. Thank you Ms. Gainsborough for acting as demo model for Commander Rhapsodos, who was just rescued by what appeared to be a petite, helpless female. And he's an elite SOLDIER 1st Class and her, a Personal Assistant; will wonders never cease? Imagine a man of his stature and skill level rescued by a tiny female? Unbelievable. This interview is over, thank you all for coming" he said, trying to force a smile that made him look like he was about to go for someone's throat because it was a tad too wide.

Genesis didn't say a word to Aerith until they got to his office. "What the hell did you think you were doing? You could have gotten hurt!" he snapped and then his eyebrows rose in confusion at the way she was looking at him, her gaze as almost predatory. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked her and then made sound of surprise when she suddenly took a hold of the collar of his trench and slammed him against the wall, her expression purposeful. He opened his mouth to question what she was doing when standing on tiptoe she hungrily kissed him, her tongue entering his mouth and touching his tongue. He was shocked for a second to be taken so assertively but that melted away as the motions of juicy her full lips on his own made any reservations he had flee.

His arms tightened into bands around her. He kissed her hard, bending over her and pressing his hand to the small of her back to hold her against him. Her arms went around his neck, her slim fingers assertively slipping into the flame bright red of his hair to cradle his head, no allowing him to retreat from their kiss as she ravished his oral cavity. Their tongues wrestled for dominance and their breathing was erratic. She gasped as suddenly she was the one pinned against the wall and bodily lifted, they gazed at each other for a second through humid eyes before her lips latched onto his again and her legs wrapped themselves around his waist, not caring that it was his hands the supported her firm derrière. His flexing hips drove his impressively thickening hardness against her womanly softness as they ground together. His breath was coming in pants and he realized with a few adjustments to both of their clothes, he could take her on the floor of his office in a glorious fuck. His head was spinning and then he realized who he was attempting to seduce and jerked his mouth away from her as if her luscious lips had burned him. He looked at the innocent girl and let her down and stepped back. She wiped her mouth as if in a trance and looked up at him, a question in her face. "I'm marrying Zack" she declared and ran away.

"Aerith" he called after her and staggered to his office chair, his legs feeling like his joints had liquefied. He scrubbed his face with his hands and pushed his hair back into shape, ignoring the hard flesh at the centre of his body, except to be glad that his uniform involved baggy leather pants. He felt more hot and bothered than he ever had in his life and wondered why; he had never even bedded the girl. He had slept with literally hundreds of women and not one had ever affected him like this with a mere kiss. He wiped his own mouth and the colour of her pink cherry flavoured lip gloss came away on his hand.

Angeal had been shocked at what he had seen in his friend's office when he checked to see if Genesis was okay. He had stood there and watched it while the man and woman has all but coupled. "Gen, what do you think you're doing?" he questioned him.

Genesis's head snapped up at the sound of Angeal's voice. "You saw?" he asked him in a shaky voice, still feeling off balance.

"You have probably bedded about a thousand woman who would happily have you as their mate and you choose the one not available to develop feelings for?" Angeal chided him, but with sympathy in his voice.

"I am not corrupting her if that is what you're suggesting. Her virtue is intact, her fiancé's ring on her finger. _She_ kissed _me_ , it was probably driven by adrenaline or something" he suggested, trying to brush it off.

"I would say _you_ are the one being corrupted, think about it, you're taking her to Ikea for Goddess's sake, a place you wouldn't venture when I asked you to help me pick up my kitchen table. You're meeting her parent, when in the past you ran away from them. You have to realize that she's getting married, she's working for you and it won't be easy when she ties the knot and you have to hear about her husband. You think he will let her come over the fix you your pre-breakfast snack? She won't have time to when the children come along" Angeal said, recognizing from Genesis's stubborn expression that he was in denial.

"We're just friends and colleagues" he insisted while each thing his old friend said was like a stab into his heart.

"If things were different and both of you were single, my advice would be to marry her right away. Women like her are as precious as gold and don't come around very often and must be claimed when you find them. However, that being said, guard your heart or it will be broken when she leaves you. I pity you, I pity you both" he said and silently moved away as a man of his girth should not be able to do, leaving Genesis lost in thought.

Aerith had a sheepish look on her face as she knocked on Genesis's door later, "I brought you and espresso. I'm sorry about this morning" she said.

"It's okay, but we shouldn't do that again. I wouldn't want to be responsible for breaking your goddess seal. Are we still friends?" he asked her.

"Do you still want me to work for you?" she asked him.

"Yes, it is kind of amusing that I was almost raped by a virgin" he teased her and she blushed but lightly punched him on his arm."Where did you learn to fight like that?" he inquired.

"Karate, I've taken lessons for years, I have a black belt and a teaching certificate. I give lessons to underprivileged kids" she explained.

"You really are quite remarkable" he said with admiration in his voice.

"There's something I haven't told you, Zack's returning this Friday night and we're going to set a date" she softly said.

"I'm happy for you" he said in a neutral voice as he sipped his beverage.

"I'm having a welcome home party for him. Would you come? I would like you to meet him, he's a good man" she said in a rush.

"I don't see why you would want me there?" he said with a slight frown on his face that she thought made him look adorable and she longed to kiss him everywhere but schooled her features and blushed at this thought.

"I would like you to come, I think you will like him. You can bring Sephiroth and Angeal if you want" she all but pleaded with him, not sure why she felt the need for Genesis to like Zack.

"I'll come, what time should I be there?" he asked her.

The beautiful young woman lay naked on her bed as her body undulated as the vibrator poised at the point of her pleasure softly buzzed unhindered while her mind played a vision of her wedding night.

Before, her mind used to gloss over the part where they were alone in their martial suite, her innocent mind not really able to supply what would actually happen. But now she saw herself carried over the threshold and placed on the bed without preamble. She saw elegant male hands strip the innocent, pure white gown from her, undressing her to her teasing white lingerie. Zack admired her like that before stripping her completely bare and removing his own restrictive clothing to cover her slight body as if sheltering it. She bit her lip to stifle the moans as she lightly pinched first one and then the other of her own nipples, pretending it was Zack caressing her hard points. Her head lulled as she imagined him him stoking the fires of her arousal by teasingly sliding down her firm, flat belly until she could feel his warm breath ghosting against her excited womanhood, only to tease her with his tongue and lips. Igniting the nerve ending there until her whole body tingled. Finally he rose above her preparing to part the gates of her womanhood and make her a woman. His wide shoulders blocked out the light and shone through the strands of his hair, making it seem like it was on fire as it framed his face. His blue eyes were surprising gentle in reassurance of her and a tender smile beamed down on her. Aerith grabbed a pillow and used it to muffle her scream as she came and then eased it from her panting mouth and turned off her vibrator and lay it aside. Then she realized, Zack didn't have red hair and his eyes were more violet blue in colour than light sapphire blue. "Goddess what shall I do? Why are you testing me?" she whispered with a sob in her throat.

Sephiroth glared at his friend, positive he must be hearing things "I'm sorry, I don't much care for socializing and yet you expect me to give up my Saturday night to go to a welcome home party set in the slums, hosted by your PA to welcome her fiancé home? A man I have never met no less. Out of the question" he intoned.

"Well what else do you have to do on a Saturday?" Genesis asked him.

"That is my business, count me out" he replied.

Angeal looked at Genesis, knowing the real reason why Genesis was asking them to come. "I'm going, I think it could be fun" he said encouragingly.

"Then it is settled, I shall have my usual on Saturday night and you two can go to the lame party" Sephiroth said.

"I need to speak with you" Angeal said to Sephiroth and pulled him aside."You're going" he hissed at him.

"I don't think so" Sephiroth said. "It is hardly my fault that Genesis is smitten by Aerith."

"As a friend, he needs our support and if you don't go, I'm telling him what you _do_ on Saturday nights" Angeal threatened him.

"You wouldn't! That is completely private and none of his business" he snapped, narrowing his eyes.

"I would and Genesis will never let you live it down" Angeal threatened.

"Oh for the love of...fine" Sephiroth sourly said, narrowing his eyes at Angeal.

The party was in full swing when they got to the Gainsborough household and everyone stopped to look at them when they were admitted, most people never having seen the trio up close. Although they were causally dressed for the occasion and didn't wear their uniforms, they still were getting quite the looks. Angeal being the most gregarious one stepped forward and smiled at everyone. "I'm Angeal, this is Sephiroth and Genesis, I believe most of you know" he introduced them.

"You must be Gen's friends, I'm Elmyra, Aerith's mother" Elmyra introduced herself.

"I see good looks run in the family" he commented.

She blushed and said "you flatterer, if I were only ten years younger, you would have to watch out" she teased him.

"I like older women" he deadpanned.

"Mom" Aerith said with a giggle, coming to greet the trio.

"I'm glad you could make it" she said directing it at all three but glanced at Genesis.

"Aerith you look..." the redhead said and his words deserted him for once. She wore a red dress with spaghetti straps that showed off her slim figure to perfection, that allowed for a glimpse of cleavage. Her normally tightly braided hair was loose and had been arranged into long tendrils.

"He's trying to say you look good" Angeal said putting his arm around him, he was rather baffled. He had never witnessed Genesis at a lost for words over a girl in a dress.

"You think so? I wasn't sure about this dress. It's not too much, is it?" she asked with a blush.

"No you look perfect" Genesis assured her. "Zack will love it," forcing the word past his wooden tongue.

"Her church normally forbids her to dress this way, but it's a special occasion. But you normally don't wear red" Elmyra said to Aerith with a frown.

"It's a new look I'm trying, I borrowed the dress from Tifa" she lied with a blush.

"Yes it's mine" Tifa lied, remembering how Aerith dragged her from store to store looking for a perfect red dress to wear for Zack, yet she couldn't help noticing the Genesis wore a lot of red. Even then he had on a pair of black slacks with red button up shirt and his usual dangling earrings. Tifa hoped that Aerith's affections weren't being transferred to the redheaded man because of the long absence of her fiancé. She had warned Zack about leaving Aerith alone so much, not that Aerith was flighty, she was certainly loyal but she was also young and inexperienced when it came to men and however Genesis had a horrible reputation, he treated Aerith very well.

Angeal kept Genesis distracted while he talked to new people, the thought the large black man named Barret to be very entertaining and his young daughter to be very cute. He didn't know what to make of the red four legged tattooed creature mingling about and thought he was a pet of some sort, until he introduced himself as Nanaki and proved to be very intelligent. Genesis himself talked to few people as his eyes followed Aerith around the room to the point he had to keep poking him.

Aerith was nervous but excited, so didn't feel the weighty gaze upon her. Though she did notice that the three soldiers tended to stick together. She made her way about and kept circling back to them, she noticed they seemed to be getting along with different people, Angeal was doing most of the talking and Genesis was joining in. Sephiroth talked little but was amusing guest by revealing a talent that she wouldn't have suspected; he could juggle anything and was proving this.

Aerith kept on glancing at the clock, Vincent was supposed to pick him up at the airport and drive him straight over and it was getting really late. Has his plane been delayed? Her smile brightened when Vincent stepped into the room wearing his uniform. "Vincent where's Zack?" she asked him, coming over to greet her friend.

He took of his hat and said "I'm very sorry but his plane was shot down, he didn't make it" he said with grief in his voice.

"You must be kidding. Vincent you're such a kidder. Did Zack put you up to this? Is he still in the car?" Aerith said with levity in her voice while everyone whispered around her.

Tifa took her hand and put an arm over her shoulder while Vincent took her wrist. "I'm sorry, Zack's dead" he said in a solemn voice.

"No this can't be real, Zack? No, noooooo" she suddenly shrieked and burst into tears and was instantly surrounded by people attempting to sooth her.

Genesis started forward to aid her but was brought up short when Angeal grabbed his shoulder. "No you can't go to her" he told him.

"But she's so upset, I have to do something" he said.

"If you go to her and she flings her arms around you, what's everyone going to suspect? Her fiancé's newly dead and you have to respect that. She needs to grieve and not have her reputation tarnished in the eyes of her friends. You can be there for her, but at a later time" he insisted.

"But I need to.." he said.

"You need to come away from here and leave, come I shall give you a ride home" Angeal insisted.

Sephiroth was only too happy to leave and resume his usual Saturday pastime, he locked his door and bolted it shut. He got changed into a pair of baggy blue jeans and a blue shirt and donned a sailor's hat. His preparations now complete, he selected the DVD for South Pacific and turned it on. He started to sing/dance along with every song. He had the whole thing memorized as he went seamless from scene to scene, this was his shameful secret Angeal had threatened to reveal to Genesis, he liked to imitate musicals. "I want to wash that man right out of my hair and send him on his way..." he sang in a falsetto while performing the action on his hair.

Meanwhile at the Gainsborough residence, Aerith cried non-stop from a mixture of guilt and grief, partly crying how Genesis had left her with barely a goodbye.

At the Rhapsodos residence, Genesis held his PHS and stared at it, trying for hours to come up with a text to express his sympathy to the grief stricken girl, yet even someone who had been accused of being a motor mouth couldn't express himself upon occasion when he had real feelings for a woman for the first time in his life.


	5. Chapter 5

Genesis lifted up his head and groaned that he had fallen asleep while sitting up on his couch fully dressed while holding onto his cellphone and waiting long into the night for Aerith to acknowledge his text. Okay it hadn't been much of a text, he just conveyed his apologies for leaving so abruptly as he had, said he was sorry for her loss and for her to take as much time off as she needed.

He rubbed his sore neck and silently cursed that he had sunk so low where he was acting like a teenaged girl waiting for her crush to call as she stared at her cellphone. Of course Aerith wouldn't get in touch with him, her fiancée had just died, she had much more important things to worry about than Genesis.

He got up and removed his rumpled clothes and took a shower. He got into a pair of lounge pant, expecting to hear the tap of Aerith's shoes as she let herself into his house and moved around the kitchen while softly humming to herself, then he remembered, she wasn't coming over. This thought made him feel a little lonely and he cursed himself for this. He was perfectly capable of taking care of his own self, he was a grown man after all. He brewed himself coffee and opened his cupboard to get his favourite mug out and frowned that it was beside the teacup she drank from when they ate together. He opened the fridge to find it well stocked with fruit and could see her apron hanging on its usual hook. Was the woman haunting his life? He sighed and decided to have some toast and go workout seeing how it was so early. He had to deal with his frustration some way and that seemed like the best option.

He paused when he looked at the flowers in the middle of table. Aerith brought them from her garden once a week, the first time she had done so, he had asked her why. Certainly he wasn't a woman who needed to be romanced. She had just explained that she noticed he liked beautiful things and what was more beautiful then flowers? Somehow she had found a cut glass vase amongst his possessions and filled it with sweet smelling blooms once a week that seem to last a long time. The ones in the vase were some sort of lily as far he could tell, their delicate looking furled petals suddenly reminded him of Aerith.

He sighed that all of his thoughts seemed to lead back to her. So many little things she did for him. Then he smiled in memory when he had asked her what sort of flower he would be if he were one, he had expected her to say a rose. But she had said a poppy. He had felt rather insulted to be thought of as a common red weed. But she had explained they are hardy and beautiful and deadly if not used correctly because they contain opiates that could be used in a beneficial way, but were terribly addictive.

He quickly ate, got ready for his day and grabbed his gym bag.

He decided against the virtual reality room in favour of using the actual gym and got into a t-shirt and shorts, he grabbed a towel and went to the cardio room and began climbing on the elliptical machine. There seemed to be only one other person there, a woman wearing a shorts and a sports cami who seemed to be aggressively practicing martial arts with a practice dummy. He found his eyes scanning he slender but curvy figure. He long, light brown ponytail whipped as she pounded at the dummy with her arms and legs in an erratic fashion as if her life depended on it. She seemed really angry as she attempted to pulverize the wooden dummy. He found himself growing rather apprehensive about her behaviour, not that he feared her but she was acting like a mad woman. Then he caught sight of her bleeding knuckles and felt he had to intervene before she hurt herself further.

He turned off the machine "Miss, are you okay?" He asked her and she whipped around and he flinched back to find himself staring at Aerith, her eyes were wild. "Aerith what are you doing here? You should be at home" he said.

"Not you too, why does everyone feel they need to control me? Just let me work out" she insisted and turned back to face the dummy.

But he seized her slender wrist and turned her around. "You have to stop, you could break your knuckles" he insisted and caught her other hand as it struck out at him and she snarled at him like a trapped animal and started struggling against him and then burst into tears. He didn't know what to do at first, having never comforted a woman before and then pulled her against him. She sobbed against him as her hands fisted into his t-shirt, getting blood on it and he didn't care as he stroked her back and hair.

"What are you doing?" He finally asked her when she leaned back from his embrace.

"Why did the Goddess take him and not me?" She said in a hoarse voice.

"I don't know" he said, "go get changed, we'll put something on your knuckles and then I'll take you home" he said.

It was a numb girl that he took to his office wearing one of her usual outfit. She didn't even seem to notice as he gently washed the blood from her split knuckles, sitting her down on his couch he meticulously applied the ointment they had given him at the gym.

"Do you want to call your mother?" He asked her.

"No she will just tell me what to do. I just want to live my own life. Fuck the Goddess" she sneered. "I loved him and now he's dead. Do you hear me? I loved him, not..." she snapped and blanched and went silent. Genesis could only wonder why she said that to him and then she started weeping again, "lost, I'm so lost" she moaned. He gathered her to him and then wondered why she went silent in his arms and realized she was asleep. He gently arranged her on his couch so she was lying down and took off his trench and draped it over her.

He stepped out in the hallway to explain to her mother that she was with him and he would bring her home when she woke up. He got back into his office and rubbed his bare arms, feeling exposed now that he wasn't wearing his trench. He hadn't had his arms bare at Shinra since he was a SOLDIER 3rd class and didn't like it. He had fought tooth and nail to get where he was but no matter what he did, Sephiroth always seemed to do better then him.

Yes he knew his uniform was purely symbolic and protected against so little but he felt better when he wore it. Yet he couldn't take his jacket from Aerith, she needed what little he could give her or would be allowed to.

He tried to distract himself with paperwork but found his eyes drifting back to her like he was a nanny and she his young charge. She moaned in her sleep and suddenly he found himself beside her and stroking her face in a way he never had before, he was much more used to sexual touches. She nuzzled her cheek into his fingers and said his name.

Aerith could only lie on her bed after the funeral while her head spun from confusion and lack of sleep, she was only able to sleep in fits and would wake up to the knowledge that Zack was gone. She would never gaze on his smile again, never touch him and never kiss him. Why had the Goddess allowed this to happen? Zack was a decent man who had never hurt anyone. She was angry most of all, the same anger that had driven her to the gym that day. She was angry at the Goddess for testing her, she was angry at herself for allowing religion to dictate how she live and she was angry at Zack for putting himself in danger so much.

They had met through Vincent and Tifa, who had felt they would get along perfectly together as they were the same faith and he was looking for a wife. Sparks had flown between them the second they met and Aerith knew in her heart that Zack was the soul mate the Goddess had intended for her.

Although they both followed the same religion, her sect. The Church of the Goddess was more strict when it came to the teachings of the Goddess, her body had been pledged to the Goddess to be given only to the husband she had blessed her with.

Zack's sect was more elementary based, The Reformed Church of the Goddess and relaxed where members were allowed to have physical relations with a person as long as you were in love with them, their members could date and even live together outside of holy wedlock.

She and Zack had gone on many chaperoned dates before being left partially alone in another room by her mother so they could physically express themselves in harmless ways, like kissing.

It wasn't long before Zack gave her an engagement ring and told her he was willing to wait until marriage because he was in love with her. So waited she had while he went from one assignment to the next, endlessly taking personal risks that made her beg him to stop when she saw him only about three to four times a year and only for a few days at a time.

"Don't worry about me, the Goddess will always protect me because I have you to come home to" he promised her and kissed her worries away. Yet she did worry, she wanted Zack to come home, to set a date and take a permanent job close to them. He could have taken his pick when it came to job offers, but loved being in the dangerous fields his work put him into. He was fearless and seemed to thrive when his life was in danger. He would be home soon, he would promise in his various emails, texts and phone calls. Soon he would come home and they would marry; but there was always another assignment to cover.

One year turned into three and Tifa and Vincent moved into together, deciding to marry after Tifa was finished getting her nursing degree. Aerith knew that there was no religious barrier to prevent them doing this and supported them in their decision, while she was so alone in her own relationship.

However, now Zack was dead and she was neither a bride nor a widow or had ever made love to him. Suddenly she hated the Goddess and all that she had been taught since a young child. "Why did you take Zack? There are so many awful people in the world? I hate you, from now on I shall do whatever I like" she shouted at the ceiling and then buried her head in her pillow to weep for what never was and never would be.

She sat up and removed her engagement ring and realized that at the age of twenty two, she hadn't done half the stuff women her age had done, she had never dated a bad boy, she had never flirted to her knowledge, she had never worn a sexy outfit or even had a drink of alcohol. Her mother was also a believer of the Goddess but didn't practice the more orthodox religion Aerith and her mother had. She worship the Reformed Church Zack had.

Elymra had never tried to change Aerith upbringing in any way after adopting her, she took her to the same church she had always attended and tried to make her life as normal as before. However, she did caution her that twelve was too young to pledge herself to the Goddess, that she should wait until she was more mature to make that decision, but Aerith hadn't listened. She had gone ahead and done it and the man she had been waiting for was dead! She had never questioned the teachings of her church, revealing clothing was forbidden, people were warned not to discuss sex with members, kissing only allowed when supervised. The list was endless! And now she had had no life but a highly sheltered one, she was only allowed to attend sex education class in school because it was mandatory. She couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't go back to being that repressed person again and wait for the Goddess to send her another soul mate. No she was still young but was eager for life. She didn't know if it meant she would have to turn her back on the Goddess but would have to find out.

She would be different, she would like life on her own terms and break all the rules.

She picked up her cell phone and texted to Genesis that she would be returning to work the next day and would meet him at his place.

He texted back right away, asking if she needed more time off.

"No, I'll see you tomorrow morning" she typed back.

She silently let herself into his place and placed his coffee in kitchen and all but crept into his bedroom. She stood and gently watched him sleep, he looked so young while he was with his hair softly framing his face and devoid of it's usual gelled feathered points. She felt calm to be in his presence again, to be out of the house with everyone attempting to cater to her and worrying about her. She reached down and took a lock of his flame bright hair in his hand, enjoying the soft, yet weighty texture of it and then released it. His blankets exposed one wide shoulder and the arch of one breast. His long dark eyelashes kissed the high cheekbones of his oval, alabaster face. Gently her hand moved down to stoke the smooth skin there and his glowing blue eyes blinked open.

He looked up and realized that he wasn't alone. "Aerith, is that you?" he said in a groggy voice and started to sit up when she suddenly all but collapsed on top of him and her mouth frantically covered his own. "What are you doing? I'm all for being greeted by kisses but can't you wait until I brush my teeth at least?" He asked her, gently pushing her away and sitting up. Only for her to kiss attack him again, it was like having a whirlwind with five tongues attack him and they all seemed to be trying to pry his lips open.

"What's gotten into you?" He said and then froze when he realized her hand was. "Let go of my...ouch" he cried when she tugged on him with all the tender care as if she was trying to start a lawnmower or squeeze the final drop of ketchup from a bottle, having no skills or finesse as a lover. "Aerith, what the hell you think you're doing?" He demanded as he leapt from the bed and then covered his genitals with his hands as his neglected organ swelled up with hope after a month's abstinence, glad for any touch, even if being roughly manhandled.

"I want you to...fuck me" she forced out, freezing the ginger in place

"What? No, this is not what you want" he said going to his bureau and hastily tugging on a pair of lounge pants.

"I want this and you're the man I lo-trust" she corrected herself and to his horror, reached under her skirt and took off her panties, laying these aside, she lay on his bed and squeezed her eyes tightly shut "please fuck me" she requested. Genesis's eyebrow shot up in shock as he witnessed the worst attempt of seduction he had ever viewed in his life.

He pushed his hair back and sighed, "Aerith what you are you doing?" He asked her.

She opened one eye and frowned, "I'm bracing myself, aren't you going to lift my skirt and have your way with me?" She asked him.

"Stand up" he said helping her up and handing her panties back to her and turning his back when she got back into them. "That is not how people normally have sex, the women isn't expected to lie there passively. I like my bed partners to enjoy themselves just as much as I do. Furthermore, I like my women naked, as in skin on skin. Also, I don't just have my way with woman; I prepare them properly to excite them so they are ready for penetration as any considerate lover should. But that brings us to my question; why do you want me to fuck you as you so eloquently put it when I told you do not seduce innocent virgin? Though they certainly seem to want to seduce me" he said with irony in his voice

"I want to...get it over with" she explained in a small voice.

"So you wish to use me as a tool to remove your virginity? Now I'm starting to understand. However, I must decline" he said.

"Decline?" She asked him.

"Aerith, I have the morals of an alley cat in heat and we both know that, but I would be a reprobate to take advantage of you in so vulnerable a state, the man you were going to marry is barely in the ground. I may be unscrupulous, but even I have some standards left. I know that tragic events can cause people to behave out of character, but you don't want this. You need to grieve and you need to heal and make peace with the Goddess" he said.

"Don't talk to me about the Goddess, she murdered Zack" she all but spat with contempt.

"I know you're angry" he said placing a brotherly arm around her. "But it wasn't her that ended his life. I've been where you are you, worshipped the Goddess as well and decided I didn't need the church, I can worship her how I want on my terms. Losing someone is horrible but it isn't her will" he said to her.

"Some worshipper, you fuck everything that moves, expect me" she spat and pulled away.

"You're not like other women, I care about you" he said. "I wanted to be there for you through all of this, but it isn't my place. I didn't want to be an interloper in your life. Did you get my flowers?" He asked her.

"If you care about me so much, you would take me to bed and give me what I need" she said with contempt in her voice.

"That's the last thing you need, what you need is a friend" he said.

"What I need is for you to be my friend and fuck me" she said.

"That is exactly why I won't do it" he said finality in his voice.

"Then it appears I have enough friends, Commander Rhapsodos. I don't need another person telling me what to do and what is right for me, I have enough people in my life doing that. I'm not a child, only a virgin and I know what I want. From now on we're only employee and employer, nothing else because you failed me when I needed you the most" she explained and went and prepared his food, ignoring his suggestions that she join him and attempts to be friendly and continued to do that throughout the week. Genesis could only watch the coolly professional woman and mourn the closeness they had previously shared.

Angeal was getting sick of how snappish Genesis had been, something was clearly bothering him if his behaviour was more boorish then usual to the point that even the oblivious Sephiroth noticed. "So what are your plans tonight Sephiroth?" He asked him as all three friends left their meeting.

"Rent" he replied.

"So you have your leather jacket and candle ready?" Angeal asked him.

"Always" Sephiroth said with a smirk.

"What are you two talking about?" Genesis snapped.

"It's confidential and on a need to know basis only...and you don't need to know it. I'll see you both later. There is an extended version of Singing in the Rain on DVD that's being released today and I want to make sure I get a copy" he explained and departed.

"He certainly likes to be closed mouthed about certain topics" the redheaded loudmouth complained.

Angeal walked him to his office, Aerith politely nodded to both and closed the door to her own even though it was unnecessary, all the Commanders offices were soundproof. "What's going on?" He asked him crossing his arms over his chest.

"There's nothing going on" he insisted.

"Gen for weeks now, you're been on edge and really pissing us off. It's not hard to see that you're trying celibacy for a while and I think that's commendable and I'm proud that you have lasted as long as you have" he said.

"It's been more than a few weeks" he admitted.

"How long?" Angeal said and then it was suddenly like his eyes were glowing marbles about to roll onto the floor when Genesis admitted it had been over a month. "Does this have something to do with the PA who is currently barely speaking to you? What did you do?" He asked him.

"Nothing, it was because of her I stopped sleeping around, at first it was just because I didn't like other women being there when she would meet me each morning. Then other women just didn't interest me anymore. I don't know why" he said with a sigh.

"Because you're in love with Aerith and only want to be with her" Angeal explained to him.

"Don't be preposterous, I don't believe in love. It isn't real" he hotly denied.

"Yet you're in it. Her fiancé's recently dead. You know you can't press your suit" he said with sympathy in his voice.

"She asked me to...sleep with her. I didn't" He said.

"Grief does strange things to be people, you were right to say no. It shows you're growing as a person. Give her time, perhaps someday..." Angeal said.

"No, I'm not what she needs" he said and Angeal frowned at this.

"Why don't we go to the Officers club tonight and have some drinks? It'll be just the two of us. Come on, you need to have some fun" Angeal suggested.

"Okay, I suppose I could use a night out" Genesis agreed.

"Great put your party shoes cause the fellas are going out tonight" Angeal said. "See you at the officer's club" he said as he departed, something that got overheard by Aerith.

At Sephiroth's Place That Night

Sephiroth wore a leather jacket and danced around his place while swishing his hips provocatively and singing in a falsetto "Let's go out tonight/Have to go out tonight/You're sweet/Wanna hit the street?/Wanna wail at the moon like a cat in heat?/Just take me out tonight" he sang and then added a very convincing meow to it, throwing his head dramatically back and shaking it so his silver hair swirled around his body.

Um, Okay. At the Officer's Club

Genesis was enjoying his friend's calm presence as they drank and shared old stories and razed each other in a gentle ways as long time friends tend to do. Although Genesis didn't have the heart to try and take anyone home, however he was evaluating the women in the crowd out of habit. It being the official bar hosting the SOLDIERS officers, the women who were there all appeared to be taken except for a girl with long wavy light brown hair. She was surrounded by admirers but didn't seem to be with anyone in particular. She was wearing a revealing dress that clung to her every curve. The neckline plunged low, almost to her navel and only a few bands of cloth between her breasts kept the dress from separating and it appeared very short. Allowing him a nice glimpse of long legs from where her dress rode up as she sat at the bar. Once in a while someone would say something funny and she would laugh just a little too loud.

"It seems someone needs to get hosed down" Angeal said.

"The men or the woman?" Genesis deadpanned.

"Take your pick" Angeal said with a shrug. They glanced over again when she suddenly laughed at something her suitors had said.

"I think I'm almost ready to call it a night" Genesis said.

"Come on it's early yet and you're buying. Are you saying I'm a boring date?" The large man said and pouted and fluttered his eyelashes at Genesis, this caused the redhead to chuckle.

"Sorry I like my ladies with a lot less muscles" he said.

"You don't know what you're missing, Genny" Angeal said giving him a flirtatious wink and blowing him a kiss.

"Considering how you're a gay as I am, I'm pretty sure I do. I guess I'm just not too much in the mood for company" Genesis said with a sigh and then looked up at the loud peal of laughter the unidentified woman emitted.

"I guess if you backslide, you can always take home the village bicycle over there" Angeal said with disapproval in his voice.

"I'll go pay" he said, taking out his wallet.

He went to walk by the woman and glanced at her and then stopped when he realized who he was looking at "Aerith?" He questioningly said. Her dress was nothing less than scandalous and dark makeup and red lipstick stood starkly out against her pale unblemished complexion. Her feet were shod in red high heel open toed shoes. "What are you doing here, why are you dressed that way?" He demanded.

"I wanted a drink and all of these nice gentlemen were offering to buy them for me. Don't you like my new look?" She said.

"I'm taking you home, no I can't let your mother see you looking like this. You're staying at my place tonight" he said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you" she declared.

"Get your one of your own Rhapsodos, the lady wants to stay with us" a large man threatened.

"Sorry but the lady's coming with me" he said slipping off his trench and pulling her to her feet.

"What the hell Gen?" She cried as he draped his trench around her.

"Cover yourself up and say goodbye to your friends" he said. "Put our drinks on my tab, bye Angeal" he said as he towed her so she stumbled coltishly in her high heels and protested over being forced to leave.

"You can't force me to go with you" she said, flinging off his trench when they reached his car.

He just picked it up and draped it over her again after giving it a shake. "I can't leave you here either, do you think all those guys want to buy you a drink because they think you're a great conservationist? They think you're something you're not and all you will find at the end of the night is a bunch of pissed off guys who might violate you for offering what you're not willing to give and possibly impregnate you if they don't give you sexually transmitted diseases. You don't even drink, why start now?" He demanded.

"I want nothing to do with you" she said.

"That's fine with me; after you come back to my place and call your mother to say you're staying at Tifa's and sleep off whatever your drank. You can get into the car of your own free will or I will drag you" he said.

He could feel her anger as she got in beside him, he and Angeal hadn't really drank very much, they didn't ever drink to the excess so he was fine to drive. "What do you think you were doing?" He softly asked her.

"Like you care" she said.

"You know I do" he softly said.

"You're yet another person treating me like a little kid. I'm a full grown woman" she complained.

They were silent the rest of the way and he let them in and flipped on the lights then he leaned against his kitchen counter and glared at her and she took off his jacket and crossed her own arms and glared back at him .

"You like my new look?" She asked him, as she kicked off her heels.

"No as a matter of fact, I don't. I don't like when woman try so hard to make themselves look cheap, I don't like slutty clothes and I don't care for garish makeup. Call your mother while I get you something to wear to bed and then you're cleaning that crap off your face. You'll find facial cleanser in the shower" he called over his shoulder. "Here's some boxer shorts and a t-shirt, I don't have anything more feminine around" he said, noticing that her complexion had been returned to normal.

"I thought you liked girls who looked this way?" She said.

"Just because I'm a garish whore myself doesn't mean I enjoy the company of others" he said. "Now go change in the guest bedroom while I go get changed myself" he said pushing her in that direction.

"I've never seen you like that, a whore that is. You're a lot more like Sephiroth then you think; he guards himself and allows no one to touch him to protect himself but you allow many into your bed because you need human contact like anyone else but reject all in case they get to know the real you and reject you. They wouldn't, I like the real you" she called after him. "That doesn't make you a whore, it makes you lonely, there is much you conceal behind your bright colours and boastful, strutting ways."

"Just go get changed, make yourself ready for bed and go to sleep" he softly said to the most frighteningly accurate observation anyone had ever made about him.

"Will you tuck me into bed?" She asked him.

"That I can do" he said.


	6. Chapter 6

Although Genesis was tired from a long day of being put through a battery of endurance tests that were sprang upon him and the other two elite without warning as usual. They seemed to do little with their health and fitness levels and a lot more to do with whatever Professor Hojo's twisted mind ordered him to inflict on them, he found himself in a 24 hour Wal Mart close to his home. He hadn't even known what a Wal Mart was until Tifa suggested he go there to clothe Aerith on the phone. Yet here he was. He wondered why he felt the need to do things for the petite woman when he never went out of his way to do any favours for his lovers, heck for anyone when he really thought about it. What was going on with him? It had been weird enough when he had started ferrying her about in his own car like she was a reigning queen and he, her loyal servant. Then he had started going into her actual shoebox she called a home and trying to charm her mother like he was some teenager attempting to court her daughter. He wasn't the sort to want to meet a person's parents. When he had been a horny teenager, he had normally run the other way when he saw them, with good reason; they were normally armed. Yet he liked the feisty middle aged woman that was Aerith's mother.

What was it about Aerith that made him act so out of character? Others had spotted it too. Just the other week, he had been talking in his office with Angeal and Sephiroth and Sephiroth was telling them how he was getting another medal. Genesis could feel him temper build and himself flush with anger. The words formed in this throat about to rush past his lips; about how Sephiroth was given medals just for _breaking wind_ while the rest of them had to _earn_ their commendations, when Aerith's hand touched the back of his own "cool your jets hot stuff, or I will give you that spanking" she threated him with a small smile. He looked down to where their hands were joined and could have sworn he could feel the warmth of her small fingers through his glove and his anger evaporated as if it had never been.

"Hot stuff? That's a new one on me. As for you spanking me, you never know, I might enjoy it. Shall I order you a leather outfit for the occasion?" He had joked back with a chuckle. Both other men had looked extremely stunned that there was a person on that planet who could calm his temperament while Aerith just looked confused, not understanding the BDSM reference.

What was he doing here? What was this woman doing to him?

Okay, He knew that Aerith would need clothes to go home in and didn't want to drive her the store in the morning with her wearing that red nightmare of a dress or his clothes, as if she were doing the walk of shame.

Instead, he was one of the few people in the women's section and found himself blushing when her overheard a staff member speculating he was buying the clothes for himself. He ignored them and wondered why they would think that, okay he wasn't wearing a wedding ring so most likely he wasn't buying them for his wife. Couldn't he just be buying a present for his girlfriend? Okay the timing was a little odd, but perhaps he worked odd hours? He kept glancing at the pale blonde with odd coloured lipstick. She had long bleached blonde hair and her nametag read 'Jenna', "haven't you ever seen a man buying women's clothes before?" He snapped in challenge at her.

"Yeah, that's Genesis alright, I told you he's a total douche" she whispered back to her friend and he just ignored this.

He turned his attention to the assortment of clothes in front of him and wondered what to buy Aerith. His eye came to rest on a pair of light blue stretch jeans and tried to imagine them on the long, slim legs of the girl that had been confirmed earlier that night. Then he remembered that he had never seen her wearing pants before and moved on.

He found a purple peasant top that gathered at the waist in elastic folds, it had a round neckline and three quarter length sleeves that looked conservative and practical enough for the demure girl, a black three quarter length skirt was thrown onto his shopping cart to match this.

Genesis was very good a judging women's sizes. Then he remembered underclothes and felt awkward as he headed for the lingerie section, he wasn't one to buy panties for women. He found himself intrigued by a hot pink and black lace panties set, thinking it would look great Aerith with her colouring. This got a laugh from Jenna. He even went as far as to search for a 32C bra and size small panties, when he realized how inappropriate it would be to present her with these. So instead, he grabbed a pack of plain white hanes her way briefs and a white utilitarian boxed bra; the type favoured by grannies everywhere. There was certainly nothing sexy about any of them!

He wondered if she would need pantyhose but decided she could do without for the ride home.

A quick stop at the shoe department yielded a pair of comfortable looking plain black flats, size 6, he had been able to get her size from her shoes.

These went into his shopping cart and then he turned into the pharmacy section.

He gazed at the shampoos and selected cherry blossom shampoo and conditioner, which he had smelled in her hair during the times Aerith hugged him. For body scrub, he choose vanilla scented and deodorant to match, having scented both of them on her. He wondered at body lotions and decided her could just let her use his own if she required any. A toothbrush and toothpaste later, he felt his shopping trip was complete. But stopped anyway in the feminine hygiene products aisle and eyed them speculatively and then realized that if she was having that time of the month, she most likely had an extra something in her purse. It wasn't like she was moving in with him.

He stopped in the grocery aisle to pick up fresh fruit, bread, eggs and bacon in case Aerith wanted breakfast and paid for his purchases and drove home.

His three bedroom house was pretty ordinary in size for a rich man but he didn't see the need to buy something bigger just for himself, he wasn't a humble man by any means and liked being surrounded by beautiful thing. However, growing up in a mansion had been an isolating experience for him, so he preferred something more modest that was entirely his own.

The main bedroom was his own with a huge white marble ensuite bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and steam shower.

The second largest bedroom was his home office and the third, his little used guest room. It had a more modest ensuite bathroom that he was positive was unstocked. The last overnight guest he had had sleep over was Angeal when had had his place fumigated against termites and he had brought his own.

Turning into his driveway. He took the bags from his sports car, he crept into the dark guest room and left all the toiletries on the counter of the washroom for her to find. The clothes, he placed folded and still packaged on the nightstand beside her bed.

He gazed on her from the light in the hallway; she lay on her side hugging the pillow to her body while her head rested on the end of it. She looked little more than a child and he felt a wave of protectiveness wash over him and he frowned at that.

He'd been so angry to find her dressed like that in the officer's and club acting how she was, but knew he had no right to be, he was her boss, not her brother or father. He wondered at how protective of her he was, she was nothing to him, merely an employee. She had certainly proven she could protect herself _and_ him. There just seemed to be something about her that made him want to be around her and have her touch him in the innocent ways she did.

His hand reached out of its own volition and almost touched her unbound hair, it looked so soft...and stopped himself, turning away from her with a soft curse. Stepping into the hallway, he went to his linen closet and retrieved another blanket, having been brutally told by Angeal that the window in the room wasn't sealed in the least and he could use that room for storing sushi.

Returning to his guest, he went to spread it over the sleeping bundle of a woman, when he was wrestled to the bed with some kind of karate move and pinned there. Well he could have easily broken the hold of the petite woman, but he was stunned at the moment that someone so tiny had wrestled _him_ to the bed.

"Gen, what are you doing?" Aerith asked him, obviously now sober.

"I went and got some clothes and toiletries for you and was just putting an extra blanket on your bed so you wouldn't be cold" he explained, seeing no point in lying. She leaned over him, her small hands pinning his wrists to the bed while her gentle jade eyes bore into his.

"You did all of this for me? You do care" she said suddenly smiling.

"Well are you my guest and I have to make sure you're comfortable..." he protested with a blush and then plump lips covered his own.

"Aerith, what are you doing?" he said, breaking her kiss and his wrists were released and her hands quested up his t-shirt to stroke his sides and abs, causing him to shiver while she pressed a trail of kisses down his jawline to the sensitive column of his neck.

"Aerith" he said in surprise when she playfully nipped his earlobe before starting to nibble at the side of his throat and he jumped when she softly nipped his pulse point of his neck. By now, her hands roamed over his mostly bare chest, mapping out the impressive expanse of the hairless planes and grooves. Genesis knew he could move but it felt so good to be touched so reverently while gentle hands teased him and his mouth moved with hers this time when she reclaimed his lips.

Then he realized who he was being seduced by and _she_ suddenly found herself pinned to the bed when he suddenly flipped them. "I can't do this, it's wrong. I told you, I can't do this with you ever" he said glaring down at her, his breathing was heavy and his large arousal apparent in his tight black jeans.

She easily yanked a slim wrist free of his gentle bondage and placed her hand alongside his face, cupping his cheek. "I want us to make love" she said.

Suddenly he was trembling like he was cold and her other hand stroked down the muscular slope of his back to rest upon the small of his back, tracing soothing circle there counteract his apparent fear, just above the waist of his jeans.

"I can't, you don't understand" he said relying on anger to take over as he did in every confusing situation.

She leaned up and kissed along his neck in a soft, random pattern and he made a noise like a soft whine.

"Please show me how to love" she whispered in his ear as her fingertips softly caressed his face.

"No" he insisted, suddenly holding her hands away from him but with no heat in his words and his glowing eyes bored into her own. "I can't...not with you...never with you. Aerith don't you understand? I'm trying to protect you. I'm tainted, I...care for you. Everything I touch, I corrupt, can't I just have one thing in my life I don't sully?"

"You're not tainted, you never were. Underneath your bright protective coating you're kind and gentle and I want you. Give me a good reason why we can't make love?" she said taking her wrist back from him nerveless hands and running them along the length of his trembling arms as if to soothe him."Make me a women" she urged him as she captured his face between her hands and brought it down to her own, their warm breath mingling before the heat of their mouths met and it was like something ignite between the two of them. This caused any resistance in him to unravel. Aerith's only experience with males was kissing them and she was a damned good kisser as result. She helped him take off her overly large t-shirt to expose her slimly muscular torso and gravity defying breasts. His t-shirt soon joined hers and then her boxers and then both reached for the button on his jeans and they descended long legs to bare him completely to her gaze.

He felt nervous, his emotions were all over the place as he held her angelic form against his own. She was so tiny, he was afraid to hurt her, yet longed to claim her as his lips plundered her own. She clung to him trustingly while waves of emotion washed over her, most of them confusing and her heart beat in triple time. Her hands stroked the soft skin of his muscular back, pulling him as close to her as possible, wanting to possess every inch of him.

"Please show me how to pleasure you" she pleaded with him and he was a man lost as he took her delicate hands and showed how to stroke and tease a man until his head lulled back as his mind raced, it was too overwhelming. It was too much and yet not enough, the feel her soft skin intoxicated him.

That was nothing compared to how it felt pleasure her, to map out her sweet pliant body with each touch and taste until she moaned praises to him, her own gentle inexperienced hands on him seemed to sear into his very soul and her kisses fed his starving heart. His loneliness evaporated with each healing touch from her, making him truly believe he was how she saw him: worthy, desirable and loving. Unfamiliar emotions gripped him, threatened to tear him apart reminding him only of how it had felt to be with his mother, but only on a deeper level.

Her legs were trembling when he gently parted them as if he were a conquering male, when it ludicrously felt to him like he was the virgin about to be taken for the first time. He was gripped by a fear the likes of which the brave man had never known. Then he realized it was fear of hurting her. His largely swollen erection pressed against the glistening gates of her womanhood, poised to take her virginity. He bit his lip as he slowly moved forward into her depths with gentle nudges until he could go no further. He took a breath to calm himself as his heart was racing, ready to retreat at the first sign of discomfort from her.

However she cried out as own her hips surged up to complete the act of tearing her hymen and joining their bodies, not giving him a choice. He gasped and held the girl as she mewed in his arms, shuddering a bit at the pain.

"Are you okay? Do you want to stop?" he asked her going to draw back.

Her hands suddenly gripped his hard buttocks. "No, I want this, I want you. Make love to me" she desperately said.

He was uncertain, the foreign emotions he felt overwhelmed him and he longed to run away, to flee from her clinging walls that seemed to hug him as if his welcoming home. She was so impossibly tight and felt exquisite, as if her small taut body had been designed for him alone. He couldn't believe he was fucking...no making love to Aerith. She let him be her first man, accepted him into her unsullied body and he vowed he would never let anyone else have her while his heart soared with joy.

He didn't believe in emotional love between a man and a woman, had fought against it his entire life. Yet he was in love, that is what Angeal had been trying to tell him, what his own heart had been trying to tell him and he didn't listen. He realized you don't have any control over love, it would find you even if you guard yourself against it. He had no basis to even process such an emotion, he was careful and he was guarded. He hadn't even had puppy love in his life, there had been no sweet girl or an awkward seduction. His first women had been twenty-four to his own fourteen years and there had been no seduction, he had kissed her and then bent her over to cling to the Banora Whites apple tree in his front yard and took her with little thought to his virginity in full view of his father. He hadn't cared about his virginity or the woman, it been sacrificed just to prove a point at the insult his father made to his sexuality. Genesis didn't even care if he _had_ been gay, you don't insult someone that way and make assumptions about them.

Aerith wondered why he was taking so long, it did hurt but it was no worst then spraining an ankle. She looked into his face to find naked fear in his eyes before they glazed over and he focused back on her and flex his hips into her, driving himself slowly into her tight and narrow channel. She still felt pinched at first and but rode it out and soon the slow friction started to ignite a flicker of pleasure in her loins that made her cry out. He paused, afraid he had hurt but she urged him forward with her hips, needing more. His thrusts increased. They wrapped around each other tightly, as they made the bed rock. They kissed and caressed each other as if starved for each other and he whispered sweet nothings to her and meant every one. It was a sweet moment and they never wanted it to end.

Sensing she needed more, he moved them so she straddled him and pulled her in for a sloppy kiss while his hands guided her hips up and down on his length, giving himself to her completely. Surrendering everything he was to her: his mind, body and soul.

Aerith cried out with each thrust into her body, her hands balanced on his wide shoulders and the curved ovals of her nails bit into his very flesh, spiking his pleasure. Her strong thighs flexed, driving herself firmly down, while he bucked into the hot slickness that was her until they caught a rhythm that intoxicated them both.

Their kiss ended when she threw her head back, her eyes clenched shut as she sought release and with a sobbing cry that was his name, she found it and a split second later his flow joined hers, "I love you" he cried as his orgasm tore from himself like a bullet shot from a gun, painting her walls white hot. Her eyes flew open in the realization of what had occurred between them, it hadn't been just lust as she had tried to convince herself, they'd made actual undeniable love...she was in love with Gen..but Zack,she thought and burst into tears at her heart's fickle betrayal of him.

Genesis leaned back but his arms tightened protectively around her when he realized she sobbed against him. "Are you okay?" he asked her in a breathless voice.

"It was so beautiful, so perfect" she lied, yet hadn't lied, it had been like the wedding night she had dreamed about, but he wasn't Zack. It wasn't supposed to feel like this with another man.

"It's okay, first times can make people really emotional, I've got you" he said stroking her back not realizing that made her feel worse. Genesis would never lie about loving someone, yet he said it to her and she couldn't claim him.

"Now what?" she asked him woodenly.

"We get cleaned up and get some sleep" he said "you can use the bathroom first of course."

"And after that?" she asked him.

"I would like you to take you on a date. I've never been on an actual date before. I guess that's silly at my age" he said sounding shy but with such hope in his voice that it broke her heart.

"Should we go to your bed?" she asked him.

"I don't want to you in that bed ever. I'm getting rid of it" he said with certainty in his voice as she got up and walked to the washroom. She gingerly sat on the edge of the bed before arms snaked around her and drew her in before him, spooning her with his body, cuddling her, "Genesis..." she began.

"Oh now we're back to formal names again? I meant it; love you, I know you can't say it back, my timing is lousy as ever. I'm ready to wait" he promised her and fell asleep. Aerith couldn't sleep, she wiggled out of his arms and then sent a text. Vincent met her at the door with her wearing her new clothes and drove her into the night.

Genesis reached for her when he woke up with a smile on his face, imagining them spending the day together, of course he wasn't going to press her for more sex. She would be sore, a leisure day spend cuddling was enough for him. He put on pair of lounge pants and padded throughout his place looking for her, thinking she might be in the kitchen. He must have been more tired than he thought the night before that the little sneak could steal out of bed without waking him. After all his flexes were well honed like a true warrior.

He grew concerned when he couldn't find her and returned to his guest bedroom and noticed the clothes he had bought her were gone and yet her outfit from the night before remained. Her purse was gone as well, thinking she might have gone to buy breakfast, he tried calling her PHS and then put it down when there was a knock at the door. "Hey beautiful" he said flinging it open.

"Hello Gorgeous" Vincent deadpanned. "We need to talk" he said brushing by him.

"She's gone to a retreat run by the Goddess's church for people who are questioning their faith. She's conflicted about her relationship with the Goddess, Zack's death...and now you" he explained to the high strung carrot top.

Genesis glared at the crimson eyed brunette "I did nothing to coerce her into bed with me" he said.

"I know or I would have shot you at the door, I don't know the full extent of your relationship with her..." Vincent said.

"I love her" Genesis defiantly said and was surprised at the expression of pity on the other man's face.

"She'll need time to figure out her heart. No one's allowed to contact her until the first month is up but immediate family members. "She asked me to give this to you" Vincent said and showed himself out. "Zack was my best friend, if you ever her hurt in any way, I shall introduce you to the business end of my gun" he called back before shutting the door behind him. Finding it odd he was feeling a little sorry for the slutty SOLDIER.

Genesis opened the letter.

" _Gen,_

 _I'm sorry,_ _it's not that I don't care about you but I'm so confused right now. I knew you would be there last night and would rescue me, it was staged except for those men. I borrowed the dress from Tifa, it was an old Halloween costume where she dressed as a call girl and Vincent as her pimp._

 _I thought I could convince you to have sex with me, I knew I wanted you to be my first with Zack gone. Zack was my intended and one night of passion can't change that_ _even it was the best night of my life. The hurt is too fresh._

 _I don't know how I want our relationship to be._

 _If you will wait, I can give you my answer but I will understand if you don't._

 _Love,_

 _Aerith_ "

Angeal wasn't happy to be woken so early. "Angeal" he growled into his PHS.

"Hewley, you asked me to keep an eye on your nutty ginger friend and now he's here taking an hatchet to his bed in his front yard and threatening to burn it" Genesis's neighbour, the elderly Mr. Mortensen groused.

"What?" Angeal asked him, certain he was hearing things.

"You heard me, it's bad enough that he had girls coming and going at all hours like he's running some personal way station. I didn't complain about that. I thought it was men I would be seeing coming from his place when he first moved in with his flashy clothes and fae ways, not that I mind that. I had a gay uncle. Nice people. He's not a bad neighbour for the most part but can get a little eccentric. But now he's in his driveway, he dragged his round sex bed there and is taking a hatchet to it. He's acting like a crazy man, when I tell him to stop it; he keeps on saying he's going to chop it to bits and burn it. You have to come stop him before I call the police, folks are entitled to their rest" he said and hung up.

Angeal sat up in bed and hurriedly dressed and ran a brush through his hair. Ensuing his coffee, he got his car keys and drove over to his peevish friend's place to see what bug had crawled up his ass this time.

He drove up to find the picture Mr. Mortensen had painted was accurate, Genesis wore the black and red crocs that Angeal had got him as a gag gift once, not able to picture him ever wearing them but did because he found them quite comfortable. He also wore a pair of red lounge pants and a black button up shirt that was unbuttoned. He had given up on the hatchet and now was hacking at the half collapsed bed with his blazing sword. "Genesis what are you doing?" Angeal demanded.

"I'm getting rid of this bed of sin, I don't want it anymore" he said, raising the mako glowing sword again.

"Come inside, I'll call a junk man and have that hauled away. That's an order; not a request" he said catching his sword arm.

"No I have to get rid of this" he said with a sob of anguish.

"The junk man will, I'll call him as soon as we get inside" Angeal said, buttoning up his shirt and leading Genesis inside. "You want to tell me what this is all about?" he asked the distraught looking man, sensing something behind it more than the man's usual flights of temper.

"We, I slept this Aerith and she used me" he said.

"You use women all the time" Angeal said.

"This is different, I love her. I didn't even use a condom, dear Goddess I always do. What was I thinking? She could be..." Genesis said and burst into tears held out Aerith's note to his friend.

Angeal put his arms around the slighter male as he had been doing for years and read the note he had given him over his shoulder. "You silly man, I told you one day you would meet someone and fall in love. You just got her at the wrong time. Give her the time she requests, until then, it looks like we'll be a pair of bachelors together. As far her being pregnant, time will tell. Would that really be so awful, you being a father?"

"I'm tainted" He said.

"I don't want to hear that speech, you don't know why your birth mother didn't keep you. Perhaps she was really young and couldn't? There's nothing wrong with you but your lousy temper and prissy, precise ways, you fussy man. No wonder more than half the people you meet assume you're gay. We'll keep each other company...and I'll help you shop for a new bed" he offered. "Should we call up Sephiroth and see if he wants to come over for a guy's night? Oh wait, it's Saturday night. Singing in the Rain" Angeal dismissively said.

"I'm singing in the rain/just singing in the rain" Sephiroth joyfully sang as he danced with his umbrella, wearing a brown fedora hat, brown leather shoes and a gray suit. He went onto to tap dance in exact time with Gene Kelly on the screen, yes Sephiroth elite SOLDIER 1st Class could tap dance with the best of them. He was a tap dancing fool.


	7. Chapter 7

Well this is the end, thanks for reading :)

It was a much more subdued Genesis that people saw around Shinra.

He still wore his uniform with it's screaming red trench and had his hair immaculately coifed into its usual jagged points when he went into Shinra headquarters but always kept the door to his PA's office shut as if locking in painful memories in it.

For street clothing, he chose plain black as if there had been a death his the family without adding his usual red touches that were his signature. It was like he was already a ghost haunting his own life. It got to the point that even people who disliked him were starting to miss his fiery temper and dramatic ways when he drifted down the hallways as if lost in his own thoughts.

Angeal remained closed mouth about what had occurred between Aerith and Genesis, he felt it their business and no one else's. Her request for a one month's leave had been granted through the proper channels, although there was some idle gossip that _eight_ months more were required, something Angeal quickly ordered quashed, knowing that Genesis was already worried about this. He supported his friend and kept him company in his isolation, to the point Genesis told him to stop badgering him, he was not a child but Angeal knew he appreciated his help. Genesis had never been good with emotions, he was quick to temper and had a dramatic streak a mile long. He didn't seem to want to do anything but read Loveless and quote acts of it as the book was rarely ever far from his person. Angeal had the patience of a saint and endured it all, even when he longed to bludgeon the redhead to death with his own precious book.

Genesis knocked on her door, holding the flowers at the ready, looking forward to spending a quiet night with her.

Elmyra opened the door "Gen, if you keep visiting me like this, people going to start to talk" she joked to him and let him into her home.

"I came to make sure you have everything you need" he said taking a seat at the table while she filled up the kettle.

"It's Saturday night, a young buck like you should be painting the town red with a woman on each arm, not hanging out with an old lady like me" she said as she put the tea tray together.

"I've done plenty of painting in the past, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. Some friends are helping me put aside some aspects of myself that I'm not proud of" he said.

"That you're the village bicycle and most local women have had a ride on you?" Elmyra guessed. Genesis could feel himself blushing at the shrewd older woman's scrutiny and saw where Aerith got her bluntness from. "Are you in a program?"

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable discussing this with you, but no I was never an addict" he said.

Elmyra rolled her eyes at this "why is it that young think they invented sex? I was married to my husband for years and we had plenty of it, or does monogamous sex not count? I'm sure you're up to three figure digits when it comes to your conquests but what is crappy sex with strangers compared to making love to someone who will do anything for you" she chided him.

"You sound like Aerith" he said.

"You never ask about her, yet you come over all the time" Elmyra observed, not liking how depressed he seemed.

"It's not my place to ask, I'm nothing to her but a rather obtrusive boss and poor excuse for a human being" he said.

"The two of you made love" she guessed.

"I can't answer that question" he said.

"You did and now you have learned the difference between anonymous sex and loving sex" she said.

"It was only the once, she felt she needed to get over Zack..." He said and had to stop when his throat felt tight.

"At least her first time was with someone who loved her" Elmyra.

"You're not mad at me?" He said in surprise.

"I'm mad at Zack and myself for allowing her to take that stupid vow in the first place" she explained.

"But why be mad at Zack?" He said in surprise.

"Zack was a man engaged to be married, but he took a lot of stupid risks and made my daughter wait. Aerith had been engaged for three years without a date being set. Doesn't that seem like a bizarre amount of time?"

"It does seem to be" Genesis agreed in confusion.

"What do you feel when you kiss a screen or a picture?" She asked him.

"Glass" he said.

"He was always on assignment, he would come back and spend a couple of days with Aerith and would be off again. We all encouraged him take a job locally, set a date and marry Aerith but he wouldn't. He would always promise he would take just one more assignment and then off he went. He would call her, they would skype and that had to be enough for Aerith. A relationship cannot survive like that. In fairytales the princess waits for her prince but in real life you need someone flesh and blood to speak with, touch and hold in order to feed that love. A cold long distant relationship is not what a young woman wants or needs. Without someone tangible in her life, her affections can be transferred to another man who is much kinder than he seems and treats her well" Elmyra said.

"I certain don't think that's me" he said with a frown.

"You're one of my daughter's lame ducks" she said.

"Pardon me? He asked her.

"Aerith is perhaps the kindest and most compassionate woman who has ever lived and can't stand to see anyone in pain, she's a true empath. When she met Tifa, she was a runaway foster child who was living in the streets. Most people would have seen gutter trash, she saw the vulnerable young girl who tried to act so tough and needed help. We took her in and Tifa helped us in the flower shop we used to run when she wasn't going to school. You've seen Vincent's robotic arm?" Elmyra asked him.

"That clawed gold metal thing? That's kind of hard to miss" Genesis said.

"That was created for him by a friend of ours named Cid, he's an inventor. Vincent used to be a government assassin until he was captured, they held him for months while he was tortured and even went so far as to saw off one of his arms, but still he didn't give up any information. The government did nothing to try and rescue him. It was one of his own men that came for him. The damage was done, he has permanent scarring all over his body and had to be sent to the mental institution for a while after what they did to him. Tifa met him there while training as an nurse on a scholarship. What people saw as a hopeless case, she saw as a man struggling to rebuild himself after the horrors he had endured. Aerith got involved and the next thing I knew, we had a full house. So we all helped Vincent however we could and his pension helped supplement my income. Once he got more emotionally stable, Aerith suggested he join the police academy and he not only excelled on his graduation but rose swiftly through the ranks. So those are Aerith's other lame ducks. Now we come to you. I was less than impressed to learn who Aerith was working for but she insisted that she take the job. I felt like I was sending my virgin daughter into a brothel as the special of the day. I was anxious you would do something to her. Imagine my surprise when she came home fuming mad and said you were an arrogant, pompous brat of a man and then added you were the loneliest person she had ever met. I just sighed and waited for her latest lame duck to show up. I know Aerith when she takes someone under her wing" Elmrya explained.

"Was I what you expected?" Genesis asked her.

"Let's see, you're as she described you but not. The cure for loneliness is just to let people in. Aerith saw qualities in your worth knowing right away because she's special, she may not be my true born daughter but I'm proud of her" Elmrya.

"As you should be" he said.

"She's doing fine, she's in counselling, grief counselling for one and is seeing a psychologist. Grief can make people act out of character. She wants to see you when she's ready to. I have no other information at the moment. Don't give up hope though, the Goddess works in mysterious ways" she said.

"I never had any hope to begin with" he assured her.

"If it is about being adopted, you don't seem like a lousy son to me. You were adopted by a cruel man, had you been adopted like someone like me, you would have been raised in a loving environment. We never had much, but we had love on our side" Elmyra said.

"I would have been lucky to have had someone like you" he said. "So dominos or Chinese checkers?" He asked.

"Dominos. But aren't you certain you wouldn't like to go have some fun? I mean you work hard all week long" she insisted.

"I'm where I want to be, with a beautiful woman" he said.

"You flirting with me again? Set the dominos up before I spank you. I swear you are the incorrigible brat Aerith claims you to be" she said.

"What is it with Gainsborough women wishing to spank me? Do you all have a preoccupation with my rear?" He demanded but with no heat behind the words.

"You have nice one" she complimented him.

"Shut up and play" he said quirking a smile at her.

Genesis knew he would see Aerith eventually and braced himself to see her, he thought she would call him or text him or something but didn't expect to come home one day to find her in his kitchen.

"Hey Gen, I'm making spaghetti with garlic bread" she said getting out her apron and standing before him. He couldn't help studying her, her black skirt ended around her knees and was conservative but fitted to her hips and leg. Her sleeveless pink blouse was figure hugging and unbuttoned enough to allow for a hint of cleavage to show. He hair was worn loose in a light brown curly fall. She looked sexy in an unstated way, such as a young wife would dress to impress her husband when he came home.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"Why not get changed and more comfortable?" She said to him while undoing his trench.

"What are you doing?" He said when she went behind him to remove it from him, he'd already removed his gloves in his car.

"I'm taking this hot thing off of you" she said draping it over a chair. "I would love to meet your uniform designer who decided that leather was a proper fabric to use in the construction of a uniform for busy SOLDIERS. I would give him a piece of my mind. "That's better," she moving so she stood in from of him, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug and leaned her head against his chest, enjoying his familiar scent of leather, male musk and almond body scrub.

His bare arms trembled as he hugged her back. "Why are you here?" He asked her.

"I came back to claim something I left behind that is mine" she said.

"Your red dress and heels? I gave those to Tifa" he explained to her.

"You" she said.

"You ran from me and now you think you can come back whenever you want and claim me? No, you left me. Or is it that you have an itch to scratch and need my help to reach it? I loved you and you used me" he said pulling back and walking away from her.

"I was confused, about you, about Zack. I didn't know you loved me. Gen, I had to go get my head on straight before we could have been together" she pleaded with him and let her arms drop to her sides.

"Yet you come back and act like nothing happened? It doesn't work that way. Why me? Why pick me? Was it because you regard me as being a whore?" He snapped at her.

"It's because I love you" she said.

"What?" He said in a startled voice.

"I suggest we have dinner and talk" she said, "go get changed while I set the table and wash your hands" she all but ordered him.

"I could just order you from my place" he called after her.

His answer was silence, so he just did as she suggested. Pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of comfortable loose fit jeans.

"Would you like some wine?" She asked. "I hope you don't mind if I helped myself to a glass" she said.

"You don't drink" he said.

"I didn't" she corrected him, "I also didn't drive but have my learners permit now. I wasn't allowed to wear anything provocative either, not that this is all that provocative but I'm trying. I even bought a bikini. I wasn't allowed to watch movies or TV in case I might view sexually suggestive scenes. I'm going to see a movie soon" she explained.

"You've left the church or they ex-communicated you?" he asked her as she served them dinner. He had a bite, it was good but tasted like ashes in his mouth.

"Neither, when I called the hotline, they accidently sent me to a retreat for the reformed church of the goddess. I spent days doing the harshest chores and praying until my knees formed blisters on them and then finally the pastor came to ask me what the hell I was doing? I explained I slept with a man who wasn't my husband and he asked me if I loved you and I said yes without thinking and then started sobbing hysterically. He got me into counselling for my grief and guilt. Outside of the church that is and he and his wife took me into their home. They explained the reformed church was created because they didn't like how the Church of the Goddess represses its members, especially their female members. That the Goddess religion was based on love so they took that as their main objective, to love. Between the counselling and the teachings of the pastor, I came to realize that my feelings for Zack had been waning for a while though I clung to the idea of him. I was becoming disillusioned and that caused me to start to fall for someone else. You were annoying, an utter brat, had a vile temper and are a pain in my ass, yet you were one of the few people who would talk to me about sex. You cared for my well being and were charming and witty when you chose to be. That you're hot certainly helped. You treated me like you were some kind of overprotective pervy brother. You could have tried to seduce me but you never did. Heck, you used to walk around naked first thing in the morning. That was quite the sex education lesson" she said.

"I didn't know you were a virgin at the time; I just though you were uptight" he objected.

"Zack was and will always be my first love and I probably would have married him eventually and bore his children, who wouldn't have seen him or known him any better then me and would mourned him with he died. He would have died eventually, it was explained to me he was addicted to danger. I would never have been enough for him. When I touched myself, I always would dream about my wedding night but more often my groom had red hair. I prayed to the goddess for guidance and suddenly Zack was dead. I was out of control that she would take the one I loved, I decided to commit the ultimate sin" she explained.

"To sleep with a man outside of wedlock" he said.

"I didn't know how to seduce you, I didn't know how to flirt, I don't really know anything about how to be with a man but know how overprotective you get. I dressed myself like that, forced myself to pretend to be interested in those men. I only had a little bit to drink. I convinced myself that it was lust I was experiencing for you, nothing more and then we made love and I never have felt such feelings of love. It terrified me and confused me and that caused me to flee. It wasn't about you, I wouldn't have cared if you were a virgin or slept with thousands of women. I still don't care" she told him.

"That night, birth control wasn't used. Are you?" He asked her.

"What would you do if I was?" She asked.

"I would offer to marry you" he said.

"I'm not, the pastor's wife took to her doctor for a pregnancy test and put me on birth control pills" she explained.

"Why would you need birth control?" He asked her.

"For when we make love again. I never want you to feel obligated to marry me. You're clearly not ready for it yet" she explained.

"What if I never am?" He asked her.

"We'll get you there. For now, I want to be in a healthy sexual relationship that's monogamous. I don't want to be engaged, that would be like being tagged and set on the shelf again. When you ask me, we shall set a date that works for the both of us. Okay?" She asked him.

"I'm no good for you" he said as tears pricked his eyes and he glanced away.

He looked up when she sat on his lap and she cupped his cheeks to make her look at him. "I meant what I said. I didn't expect you to be a virgin and knew you weren't, not that I wouldn't have cherished the gift you gave me if you had been. You're not soil or tainted, you're just a man who has been hurting too long. You need to be in a committed relationship with someone who loves you, adores you and someone you know your heart will be safe with. I want that with you if you will let me. I won't ever leave you again. I've joined the reformed church, I can have you and the Goddess. Please say yes" she said.

"I-I've never been in a relationship and can be difficult" he said.

"News flash, I know that and don't care. I've got a lot of growing up to do and shall need further guidance from my sensei" she teased him and kissed him, Genesis heart seemed to soar with joy as feelings of tenderness raced through his system.

"I suppose we should wait to sleep together?" he said in a dazed voice, lord but her kisses floored him.

"Are you kidding? Genesis Eugene Rhapsodos you had better take me to your bed right now and ravish me within and inch of my life. I have been struggling to keep my hands off of you since the second you came home" she said and kissed with no holds barred this time as her tongue demanded entrance to his mouth and soon wrestled with his own. His breathing hitched and he bodily picked her up and set her on his new regular rectangular bed.

"Where's your round bed?" She asked him as they clawed clothes from each other.

"I didn't need it anyone. You're the first woman I've had in this one" he said as they kissed.

"That's so romantic" she declared in shaky voice.

"Please Aerith, let me have you, we can talk later. But I can't be gentle like the last time. It's been too long. I promise the next time..." He said as he joined her on the bed.

"Take me, I want you to..."

SING IT SEPHIROTH

Sephiroth was dressed as Rocky from the Rocky Horror Picture Show in gold low rise underwear and gold wrestler's boots. He was dancing all of the place when he sang "Oh, toucha, toucha, toucha, TOUCH ME"

He swirled his hair around as he did a spin that allowed a delicious glimpse at his high but curvy rear end.

I wanna be dirty"

He allowed his body to flow and did some pelvic thrusts.

Thrill me, chill me, fulfill me" he sang. "Creature of the night" he sang and threw his head back and then brought his flushed visage forward to grin provocatively at his invisible audience.

"Wow, does sex always feel like this?" asked out of breath Aerith as collapsed beside her equally as winded bed partner.

"It's never felt like this before, this is the second time I've head sex that feels this good. The first time was with you" he explained, pushing back his sweaty, sex rumpled hair.

"See? I told you that sex is nothing without an emotional connection" she chided him. "I wonder how it shall be when I have more experience?"

"I'll teach you all I know" he promised her.

"So many things we can do together" she grinned at him.

"Like me teaching you how to drive? Taking you to a movie for the first time? Going somewhere we can try that bikini on you?" He teased her.

"After I go back to work" she said.

"You wish to return as my PA?" He asked her.

"Not everyone is rich and someone has to keep an eye on your temper and I'm pretty good at that, brat" she teased him.

A FEW MONTHS LATER

"So what you are you two doing tonight?" Angeal asked Genesis.

"Disney Princesses on ice" he explained.

"That sounds dangerously wholesome" Sephiroth drolly said.

"Aerith wanted to go and I want to make her happy" Genesis said, too happy to care what his friend thought of that.

"I'm happy for you. Whoever thought Genesis Rhapsodos would be in a committed relationship?" Angeal said.

"Yeah a couple of months ago you would have been balls deep in a different girl every night" Sephiroth said.

"Sorry fellas, the only girl he's balls deep these days is me" Aerith said switching off the lights in her office and taking off her cardigan sweater to reveal a black dress was unstated yet sexy, as was the style she had invented for herself. "And it had better remain that way if he wishes to keep them" she said going up on tip top to press a light kiss to her boyfriends lips.

"Just you baby" he promised her.

"I get to drive" she said.

"Come on, this isn't a lesson in your mother's old VW rabbit, you can't handle my Vette. She feels the need for speed and you drive like a turtle" he complained. "Besides, you only have a learner's permit, it's too much car for you to handle."

"I'll be with a licensed driver" she said with a pout, reaching into his trench to get his car keys.

"Nope," he insisted, snatching them from her. She pulled him into one of her soul searing kisses that destroyed him, she snatched the keys from his nerveless hand and ran off in triumph.

"Where the hell did you learn to kiss like that?" He called as he ran after her.

"I'm goddess blessed" she teased him giving him a cheeky grin. She knew full well he would catch her but loved bugging him as much as she loved him.

"Kill me if I get like that" Angeal sighed to Sephiroth, though felt happy for his commitment phobic friend.

"I shall I slay you now? Everyone knows Yuffie has been at your place almost every night" Sephiroth said.

"I find her company pleasant and she's teaching me how to make Wutaian food" Angeal said with a blush.

"I live in the same building as you, if she's going to try sneaking out the next morning, tell her not to wave at my balcony when she walks by" Sephiroth said to Angeal deepening blush. "If that's how PA's force you two men to act. Keep them far away from me."

Aerith ran into a person during their chase "oh, I'm so sorry" she said going to help the woman pick up the files she dropped.

"What happened?" Genesis asked finding the two crumpled women on the ground and helping Aerith up. "Ellen?" Genesis said as he recognized her as he helped her up.

"Elena" she corrected him. "Kindly keep your hands off of me Commander" snapped the feisty young women.

"I ran into her. What are you doing here?" Aerith asked her.

"I've been hired as General Sephiroth's personal assistant. Wait are you two together?" She asked him when she noticed he had put his arm around the young woman.

"Yes we're in a monogamous relationship" Aerith said with a grin.

"Keep your eye on him" Elena said in a much friendlier tone.

" He's going no where. Nice to see you again. When you get settled in, seek me out and we'll have lunch together" Aerith called over her shoulder from where she clung onto his arm.

"Sephiroth's in my office, third left down the hall" Genesis called after her.

"I'm not sleeping with Yuffie" Angeal insisted.

"Ask her to bring me a coffee sometime" Sephiroth said and then there was a polite knock at the door. A petite blonde with an asymmetrical bob stood there wearing office attire that showed a rather voluptuous body for her petite stature.

"General Sephiroth, I'm Elena, I was hired to be your Personal Assistant" she introduced herself.

"I have no need of your services" he said.

"I'll leave you two to get acquainted" Angeal said and did so.

"You should go to human resources and get yourself reassigned" he suggested.

"I was hired to work with you, I shall do tasks only as you assign me" she said.

"What am I to do with you?" He said. "Do you like musicals movie?" He asked her.

"I'm not too much into the Sound of Music but I like most others and had voice training lessons" she said. "I was considering becoming an actress at one point" she explained.

"What are you doing next Saturday?" Sephiroth asked her, eyeing her with interest.

GREASE AT SEPHIROTH'S PLACE

Sephiroth flung a leather jacket from him to reveal the tight black jeans and black sleeveless t-shirt he wore beneath.

He started to sing "I've got chills/They're multiplying/And I'm losing self-control/'Cause the power your supplying/Its electrifying."

He was joined by Elena with her hair curled about her face and she wore Sandy's off the shoulder black top, shiny black jeans and red high heeled shoes.

She sang back to him while they gyrated together back and forth "You better shape up/'Cause you're the only one/And my heart is set on you/You better shape up/You better understand/To my heart I must be true."

They both managed to vastly entertain Yuffie and Angeal who watch them through Sephiroth's patio doors while a happy Genesis cuddled his girlfriend as she clung to him as the horror movie she had insisted "she could handle" proved that she couldn't and spent most of the movie with her head buried in his shoulder. Not that he minded as he held her and knew she was going to insist on sleeping at his place because she would be too freaked out to sleep alone.


End file.
